


Aphrodite Eviscerated

by AlexDichotomy (DaniLastName)



Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 3, Fallout 4
Genre: Anal Sex, Bisexual Male Character, Emotional Baggage, Gay Character, M/M, Multi, Oral Sex, Polyamory, Psychopathology & Sociopathy, Romantic Face Punching, Rough Oral Sex, Smut, Threesome - M/M/M, Torture, Triggers, Triple Threat Triad, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-20
Updated: 2018-10-20
Packaged: 2019-08-04 22:11:17
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 34,829
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16355216
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DaniLastName/pseuds/AlexDichotomy
Summary: MacCready recognizes the faces that wander into the Third Rail to shatter his life apart. It starts with favors, but it's a slippery slope as Eros drags him deeper into the devastation he and Butch wreak across the Commonwealth in search of the fabled Institute.Polyamory, both in-and exclusive, as well as coming to terms with being a "third"Sequel to Cadaveric Aphrodite, but doesn't need to be read in order(Fixed the messed up paragraph breaks)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Continuation of Cadaveric Aphrodite, which isn't required, but there are lots of references. Some history is still vague.  
> Also, find me on Tumblr  
> @totallylegitforrealnofoolin

"Sweetie, are you trying to flirt or make a fool of yourself?"  
Eros cocked his head. "I'm just wondering, you know - it's not like I've got massive sex appeal hanging off me at all times. Just, seriously, how does it not feel like you're naked?"  
Magnolia, glistening hair and sparkling eyes, laughed and ashed her cigarette lightly. "Why don't you try wearing one, honey? Since you're so interested."  
Eros rubbed his thigh and made a face. "Butch says I ain't got the thighs for a dress."  
Her smile lingered and she asked, "Why did you come talk to me if it isn't to flirt? That's all I get, anymore, and I honestly can't imagine you really thought I was the only woman who could answer your question."  
Eros leaned his elbow onto the bar and glanced past her shoulder. "Yeah, you're right. Okay, look - my man, Butch, thinks you're fucking gorgeous - which you are - but I was hoping you might be the type to mess with him with me."  
Magnolia raised a curved eyebrow, holding herself like a statue of a songbird, and smiled. "What did you have in mind?"  
"Can you dedicate a song to me? It'll piss him off so bad. Then he'll try to hit on you really hard, but he's super sweet. Interested?"  
She laughed, short as a chirp, and demanded, "It sounds like you're trying to set us up."  
"Oh, no - see, if you aren't into him, he'll get real fuckin' aggressive with me later," Eros laughed. "And if you do end up spending time with him, he gets really soft like a fuckin', uh, teddy bear. Either way, I win." Magnolia didn't drop the hint of confusion in her eyes, but nodded slowly, standing to head back to her stage with a wink to Eros.  
He checked over his shoulder where Butch was leaned against a table talking up a scavver with broken teeth and bouncing tits. As soon as Magnolia stood on her stage, hips swaying lightly as a song ended, Butch snapped to see her and Eros caught his eye with a mischievous grin. Butch only had a moment to look curious before Magnolia purred, "This one is for my _gorgeous new friend_ , Eros." Eros was beaming as she winked flirtaciously and began singing lines to a song he'd never heard.  
Butch was beside him in moments, as he'd expected, and muttered, "Seems like Butcher Pete would be more accurate."  
Eros chuckled and shrugged. "Guess she thinks I'm gorgeous, huh? But, I bet you could still talk her up. You're the _really_ gorgeous one." Butch couldn't hide his smile, but stayed focused on the singer.  
When the song finished and she glided her way back to the bar, Butch straightened nervously and Eros kept quiet with a mouthful of liquor he'd ordered. Her voice was low and soft as she approached, "You enjoy that, boys?"  
Butch pulled a charming smile, tilting his head just a bit to let his eyes hit her with glittering blue. "Beautiful. Who knew they were hiding gems like you way out here."  
She smiled and giggled, sitting beside Eros as the bar, turned to face Butch. She replied smoothly, "Aren't you a doll? You must be Butch."  
Eros felt himself being swayed by the low voice Butch spoke in - the same one he used to command and beg; "And you must be the angel I was lookin' for." Eros nearly laughed, but Magnolia seemed interested. Butch really didn't have to try too hard when he was the sexiest thing Eros had seen yet.  
Magnolia giggled again and leaned an arm onto the counter, accentuating the soft curves of her breasts that glided into her waist. "With lines like that, I'm surprised you're available." Eros realized she was looking for some kind of information or clarification, at least, as to how she could handle the situation without stepping on toes.  
Eros chimed in shortly, "Just think of it as a guiltless indulgence." He smiled at her before turning to leave, letting Butch take his place.  
Butch, his _boyfriend_ or whatever it was people called them, was easy to please - any time he'd catch his eye on a woman, Eros would play wing-man and watch him light up when the girls would take him by the hand and he'd disappear for the night. When he'd return, like Eros said, he'd be loving and soft-spoken, likely realizing Eros had somehow helped. He may also have been encouraged by how cute it was to hear Butch flirt, using lines from comics and movies they'd seen in the Vault - but it always worked. Eros figured that, if nothing else, Butch always had his perfect features to back him up if all else failed.  
Eros wandered the bar for awhile, sipping a beer that tasted like dirt. No one seemed interested in meeting someone new, each table sectioned off into cliques that chatted and howled, and Eros settled for leaning against a pillar in search of something or someone. A room in the back, labeled VIP with glowing neon, caught his attention and Eros let his curiosity lead him to it. The entrance was lined with mannequins that made Eros chuckle, unintentionally catching the attention of a man with his back to him inside the room, busy lighting a cigarette. The man spoke before looking at him and Eros felt a rush at the sound of his voice, "Three hundred caps - if you're lookin' for a friend, he ain't here." The man finally looked up with his lit cigarette dangled between his lips, a calm look in his eyes; as soon as his gaze landed on Eros, the expression turned to surprise. "Oh, uh-"  
Eros interrupted with a cocked head and languid words, "Three hundred for what? Just one night?"  
The man winced as he let his smoke sweep into his eyes and pulled his cigarette away. "No - _heck_ no. I- do you not remember me?"  
Eros furrowed his brow, refusing to lose the smirk on his lips. "I think I would, babe. I just got here today."  
The man nodded slowly, seeming entirely put-off, and Eros felt the rare pang of rejection when he replied, "Right, okay. Well, do you need somethin'?"  
"Need a drinking buddy, man. I'm bored as shit. My treat if you're interested." His confidence rose again as the man glanced away, fighting something internally.  
He answered hesitantly, "Yeah, okay. I could always use free booze." 

MacCready was floored by the complete lack of recognition in Eros's eyes, but it was the only reason he was willing to join him. Eros had left the back room to order shots and glasses and Mac was ashing his cigarette too hard out of nervousness. He hadn't seen nor heard about Eros in years, before he even met Lucy, and now he found the man both alive and, apparently, lonely. He had a vastly different feeling seeing him now versus when he'd shouted at the man from his post on the Little Lamplight gate or when he'd cursed at him and Butch as they passed through. Now, rather than general annoyance, he felt a kind of anxiousness that peaked when Eros returned and fell onto the couch beside him, close enough to make the point that he was interested in more than conversation.  
He poured and passed a shot to Mac before throwing his arm across the back of the couch. His voice was like Mac remembered it - low, almost raspy, teasing, and drenched in flirtatious hints. "So, what's a sweet thing like you doing selling yourself in a bar? I'm sure you could at least manage floating between hotels."  
"I'm not a prostitute," Mac insisted humorless. "I'm a mercenary."  
"Oh, a merc! So, how much to convince you to be a prostitute?" Eros laughed before taking a shot, followed by another he poured without waiting. "Wait, for real, though - you have to have stories. What was your last job?" He threw back the shot and grinned expectantly. Mac tilted his head back and thought for a moment. Eros wasn't supposed to be _this_.  
In the Capital, Mac had heard stories about the guy everywhere between Oasis and Rivet City. Along with Butch - wherever he was, now - he'd killed endless people, some of which were citizens of various settlements - a bar owner in Megaton, two security officers in Rivet City, and - apparently - an entire town. He wasn't supposed to be smiling or _maybe_ flirting, and he wasn't supposed to be anywhere near the Commonwealth. Eros had blown apart the Brotherhood of Steel and was rumored to have headed south to avoid them. There was no denying it was him, though, Mac knew - he couldn't forget the weird way the guy smoked cigarettes and let the fumes drift from his nose as he spoke, nor the bright eyes glaring against dark skin and black hair. The scar along his jaw to his throat was new, as well as the long burn mark on his left arm.  
He had to answer Eros. Hesitantly, Mac said, "Last job was just some guy needing a building cleared of raiders. I didn't even have to go in."  
Eros narrowed his eyes and asked, "Why's that, hotshot?" He pulled a cigarette from a pocket, smiling around the filter as he lit it.  
"Oh, uh," he'd already forgotten the man didn't know who he was, and blurted, "sniper. I'm a sniper."  
"No shit," Eros replied with a genuine look of interest. "That's fuckin' cool. I'm the opposite - I'm all about knives."  
"What if you're against Super Mutants?" Mac challenged with a smirk provoked by Eros's permanently upturned lips.  
"Headshot, headshot, then my man kills the rest," he laughed. Before Mac could question it, his eyes followed Eros's as he looked up to the door of the room. Eros leaned forward with his elbows on his knees as he greeted the person who'd appeared. _Butch_.  
Butch stood with a dumb half-smile and winked at Eros. "See ya', babe."  
Eros nodded and replied through a plume of smoke, "Don't hit home. See ya'." Mac had to keep himself from letting the confusion appear on his face - Eros seemed to answer with some kind of signal, but Mac was the only one listening. A softer smile drew across Butch's features before he disappeared again and Eros sat back as though he'd never been there. "You sure you aren't interested in some light prostitution? I hear it's decent caps," he said suddenly, turning back to Mac.  
"Uh, wh- wait, I'm confused." That had definitely been Butch - he still had the same jacket that matched Eros's, even. They had to still be _together_ if Butch called him 'babe.' Unless Mac was supposed to be some pawn for Eros to spite Butch.  
"Oh, that's Butch - that's the guy that shoots what I can't stab," he replied happily, still oblivious to anything in Mac's mind.  
"Aren't you two, you know, together?"  
Eros nodded and took another drag, looking bored. "Yeah. It's fine - we like to meet new people, you know, but we don't have any diseases or anything. I check, like, a lot."  
Mac glanced away, almost hoping Butch would come back. "Oh, right - okay," he answered lamely.  
"So, uh," Eros couldn't seem to contain the short giggle that interrupted him, "does that mean I don't have to pay you if I try hard enough to make you like me?"  
The boldness of his words made MacCready laugh and raise an eyebrow. He teased, "One story and you can't get enough?"  
"I couldn't get enough of you as soon as I walked in," Eros retorted smoothly, winking before taking an emphatic, long drag.  
Mac laughed awkwardly and forced, "I should remind you, I guess. Do you remember going to Little Lamplight in the Capital?"  
Eros lost the flirtatious facade and looked at Mac hard. "Yeah, why?"  
"I'm, uh," he started unevenly - he'd never had to reintroduce himself to someone, "MacCready. You remember me?"  
Eros dropped his jaw dramatically and slapped a hand to Mac's shoulder, turning them to face on the couch. "Holy motherfucking shit, are you serious? Mayor?" MacCready scoffed at the title and smirk. "You're _alive_? I figured, I don't know, you'd get eaten or something. You guys were so small!"  
Mac inhaled audibly with a look of suppressed irritation. "Yeah, well, it's been awhile and I haven't died, yet."  
"But, man," Eros murmured, "you got fuckin' _hot_." Mac turned red, thrown off by the weird, sudden compliment. "And, look, you don't even know how hot you are! You're all red! That's so fucking cute, I could rip its guts out and stuff it." Eros put out his cigarette and started another immediately, continuing casually, "Offer's still out there, by the way. So, Mayor, can I still get some more story time?"  
_Offer's still out there_. Mac hated that he was interested. Eros had built obvious muscle over the years but still seemed to glow with something both young and dark like a Deathclaw pup and Mac kept catching himself staring. He settled for humoring him. "Well, one time I had to clear Super Mutants from a hospital. That was crazy - I had to spend hours clipping them off so I wouldn't have to go close-range."  
"I'd fuckin' hope so. Those fuckers could eat you whole," Eros teased.  
"Not if I'm faster."  
"Bet you're not faster than me," Eros challenged lightly. "I can get a man down before he knows I'm there." Mac started to reply, but was cut short as Eros's fist swept up to hover beside his temple. Eros continued, "Right there in the soft spot - get some strength in your arms and practice your swing, nothing survives it. Cleared out neighborhoods without a fuckin' sound." His fist dropped and Eros took another long drag, lighting his features in an orange glow.  
"That's impressive," Mac grinned, possibly polite if he didn't believe it all. He considered asking about the stories he'd heard, but Eros had already confirmed massacres and he wasn't interested in finding out he really was sitting beside a monster.  
"God, you know - we could probably do some real damage with you. When I go quiet, Butch has to watch my ass - he'd probably love knowing a sniper could keep me up." Mac almost missed the innuendo that made Eros chuckle and throw his head back lazily. He eyed the man carefully, reading body language and guessing at his real motivations. Regardless of his past, Eros could be his way through Med-Tek, possibly, and Mac could disappear without a trace the moment the cure was in his hands. Eros's relaxed expression made him question the idea, though.  
"Well, I have a close-quarters contract that I've been having trouble with. Maybe, well-" Mac tried lying, but he never planned enough before he started. He could cover up the cure as a contract, but he didn't want to have to pay the man and pretend it was part of his 'payment.' There was no way he'd do it without payment, especially after already buying the alcohol they shared. He suddenly decided against asking and backtracked, "Maybe you could show me how to handle a knife."  
Eros seemed satisfied with the turn of conversation and smiled. "I can show you lots of stuff, Cready." The name hit Mac's ear wrong but he laughed it off.  
Several shots later, Eros was strewn across half the couch, rubbing his forehead. MacCready's thoughts were rushing and he'd reconsidered asking Eros for help several times. He didn't want to travel with a secret murderer - it was too easy to just pretend to be a charming, laughing guy in a bar, but the tendencies of psychopaths were hard to hide for long, and Mac could easily end up as body parts left along a highway. The man was strong enough to take him down without trouble in close-quarters, and Mac doubted he would even survive both Eros and Butch if both ended up being fucked up. Finally, he blurted, "Is it true about all the shit you did in the Capital? Like what you did to the Brotherhood?"  
Eros grunted and blinked hard, seeming to have trouble focusing. He slurred, "Oh yeah. Whatever you heard is probably fairly accurate. Half of 'em blew up and the other half probably still rotting in the dirt."  
Mac dropped his indecision and settled on leaving Eros to find his own way back. He had a son - he couldn't risk traveling with someone who tore apart the Pentagon on a whim, even if it meant finding the cure. He couldn't deliver it if he was dead in the wastes. He paused just long enough before he said, "Hey, look, I've got to meet a client pretty early tomorrow. I should, uh, head out. It was great seeing you." He rose to leave and Eros grabbed his hand gently.  
"Aw, you're sure? I've hardly made an impression." He squeezed Mac's fingers shortly before dropping his hand and leaning back. "You be safe or whatever. Watch your ass. Maybe I'll see you around again." 

 

Eros was completely bored without Butch or MacCready around. He cleared the rum left and spent too long lying on the couch in the VIP room, anxious and thoughtful despite his composed expression. MacCready had been endearing and talkative before he mentioned the Brotherhood. It left a weird feeling lingering in his chest, a rarity when it came to random meetings in bars. He'd been so fucking cute, Eros kept thinking - the booze was making him drift and, now, all he could think of was the sniper merc. Half of him was proud to know he'd met a nasty little badass so long ago and struck up conversation again so easily, but he hadn't left on a good note. For some reason, he'd seemed bothered by Eros's honesty. It wasn't like he'd done anything evil by killing off the bastards that let his dad die. _Fuck them._  
He eventually found a safe moment of drunkenness that allowed him to leave the bar in a daze, only to wander the brick-paved streets. Eventually, Eros found a door to the building that sat above the bar and he smiled shortly at a man who looked like a guard before entering. No one moved to stop him and he poked around the ground level, finding nothing but relics and broken glass. Strange, broken shards of Pre-War artifacts lay scattered throughout the ground floor like reminders of the broken past. Another guard was nearby and Eros asked, "So, is this some kind of museum or...?"  
The man scoffed. "This is Mayor Hancock's place. He's upstairs - better get on his good side if you're new here."  
"What - no pat-down?" Eros prodded. "Ain't leaders real touchy about who they meet with?"  
"If you can get a leg up on the mayor, we got bigger problems than your weapons, buddy."  
Eros rolled his eyes and dragged himself up the stairs partially on instinct, overdramatically bored in his body language. Voices came into range on the second floor and he recognized it as MacCready, who he found was sitting on a couch opposite a gorgeous ghoul whose black eyes met his instantly, interrupting the conversation. The two looked at Eros as he leaned against the railing with a grin. "Well, hello there, cowboys," he drawled, hopping the banister to enter the room without invitation. "Heard the mayor likes meetin' people. Well, here I am. Thought you had a big meeting in the morning, Cready."  
The ghoul smirked at him and Eros was in love all over again. The man's voice flowed like magma and had Eros seeing carnage. "You must be the new guy. Eros, right? What brings you so far north, my man?" His words were casual, but Eros knew MacCready had been talking about him as the mayor watched him with a measured gaze.  
He shot charm straight back at the ghoul, lifting one side of his mouth in a smile as he answered, "Well, I came looking for the Institute, but, if I'd known you were here, I would've come years ago."  
The ghoul laughed genuinely and leaned forward to grab Mentats from the table. "Oh shit, alright. Hey, MacCready - why don't you let me meet this new guy for myself?"  
Eros had to smile at MacCready as the man rolled his eyes and stood. "Yeah, well, I _do_ still have a client to see in the morning." He was so utterly bothered by Eros's presence now, he couldn't even look at the man.  
"Creads, my man, what the hell did you hear? We were cool, man." He was smiling and MacCready glanced at him before moving to leave. "I won't bite," he called as the other man disappeared down the spiral stairs, and he moved his attention back to 'Hancock.' The ghoul was watching with a smirk and Eros had to keep himself from trying to fuck the man right there. "What's the word, mayor?"  
"Sit down, man," Hancock ordered, though it sounded like a suggestion. "I don't like the whole fascist, nosey bullshit of checking out anyone who comes into this little town, but I gotta say, MacCready's never been wrong. Says he heard about some nasty shit - you really whip a guy to death?"  
Eros settled back into the couch and searched for the pack he left folded into his short sleeve. Hancock was patient as he lit a cigarette and hung his head back. "Oh man, that takes me back. Whipped the guy with a brahmin-tail - you ever use one of those? It's literally a brahmin's tail that's been made real tough by the sun and they attach it to a short, thin rope. Makes it cut right into a body before you even hear it snap, man." Hancock didn't looked displeased, but didn't respond. "Yeah, I fuckin' did that. Man was a bastard - had a whole bar and made a slave do all the work, made my girl Nova sell her ass, and he fuckin' lied to me. I mean, maybe I wasn't entirely in the right headspace, but I don't regret that."  
A little smile pulled at the corner of the mayor's mouth. "That why you skinned him?"  
Eros glanced at the ceiling and pursed his lips for a moment. "Well, man acts like ghouls aren't people because he's got smooth skin - so I took his fuckin' skin. No one treats Gob like shit anymore."  
Hancock laughed abruptly and smacked the armrest. "Hey, I get that. Guy owned a ghoul slave, huh?" He shrugged. "Well, fuck 'im. What about the hangings?"  
"Fuck, kid's not gonna leave me a goddamn story to tell for myself," Eros laughed darkly, noticeably irritated. "Slavers, man. Just more fuckin' slavers." He sat up as he recollected the day with a hint of excitement. "Guys come up to me and tell me I can't go in this fuckin' town. But there's this giant statue of a fat kid looming over the area, and I need to see what all that shit's about. So, I tell the guys I know Bruce - I don't know; sometimes you get lucky. 'Course there ain't any slavers named Bruce, so I end up tellin' Wolfgang I'm going to kill 'em and he keeps telling me it ain't a good idea because _apparently_ the place was full of slavers and these two assholes were just the bouncers."  
Hancock stretched back and folded his hands behind his head with amusement in his eyes. When Eros paused to take a drag, he spoke in that dark voice that made the smoke hover in Eros's sinuses, "Alright, so you kill slavers. I ain't ever gonna have a problem with that. MacCready isn't the type of guy to get stressed out over nothing, though. Said he heard you and this other guy are pretty well-known down south for some pretty bad shit. You two got history?"  
"Shit, he didn't even tell you how we met? It's absolutely the best part." Eros cracked his neck and flicked his cigarette into the hole he'd burnt into his pants for impromptu-indoor-smoking. "I just turned eighteen maybe two months before, and I get sent to this cave full of goddamn children running all over the place. It was this whole thing I was doing for my dad, so I _had_ to talk to 'em. I get to the gate and that little asshole - he's got this sweet-ass helmet thing and I'm like, oh shit it's the alpha kid - he calls me a cocksucker and tells me to fuck off, so I call him a knucklefucker and I say cunt a few times and the kid's opening the gate so he can take a nut shot at me. Butch was with me, then, and he thought it was the funniest shit, so the kid goddamn roundhouses him so hard in the knee, guy had a limp for days. I thought he was great. Dunno why he's got such a problem with me now, though. Hurts, man," he chuckled.  
"Well, why's he up here tellin' me you're the damn devil if you kill slavers and let kids beat you up?" The ghoul snickered and grabbed a cigarette for himself.  
"Probably the Brotherhood," Eros answered easily. Hancock tilted his head as he took a drag. "I got rid of 'em. People like to forget what a group's done in the past when tragedy hits."  
"Shit, the Brotherhood? I heard we got some of them moving around Cambridge - they as bad as they seem?"  
"Fucking terrible," Eros groaned dramatically, pulling a face. "Guys thought they owned the goddamn place because they got this fuckin' Power Armor. So I shoot the tesla coils in the back and their asses blow off. Sometimes, they fall out to get away, and a man in a jumpsuit can't protect himself from a bullet. I'll admit," he continued, ashing his cigarette thoughtfully, "I had a lot of fun. But the thing is, when you kill all the people you hate, the world gets pretty quiet. The people Creads talked to probably thought the Brotherhood was on their side or just heard about a massacre without context, so I'm guessin' they said I was out there murderin' innocents. It's what people do when they're bored - just make shit up."  
Hancock nodded and took another drag, letting the cigarette hang from his mouth as he stood and swept his hands across his coat to clear the ash. "Maybe you should talk to him, too, then. I dunno - guy's got a lot goin' on and doesn't need to think we got a monster pokin' around."  
  
  
"Man, I thought she'd at least wanna fuck, but she's just grabbin' at me under the table and her fuckin' fingernail catches my dick and I push her off. Had to shove my bleeding cock back into my pants before anyone catches a glimpse and she's freakin' the hell out. What's a guy gotta do?" Butch slammed his glass onto the table between him and Eros as he cleared the whiskey from it. "Mags was awesom, but I guess she had, I dunno, shit to sing or somethin'. Whatever."  
Eros shrugged one shoulder and commented, "With girls, you got a fifty-fifty shot that she knows how to treat a dick. Men, they know dick better than they know themselves." Butch grinned and he laughed, sipping a warm Nuka-Cola while he let the buzz of shots taken dull his brain. "I gotta say, MacCready got fuckin' cute."  
Butch snorted a short laugh. "Guy's got some real fear in him, man. The hell's he doin' out here?"  
"I don't fuckin' know, man. Kid disappeared as soon as I met the mayor." Eros smacked the table, causing nearby patrons to start in surprise. "Oh, man - dig this, yeah? Let's just fuckin' wait for him here and ask him ourselves."  
"That's your big fuckin' plan that makes you break the goddamn table, man?" Butch chided. "We're already spending the whole fucking night here, asshole."  
Eros scooted his chair closer to the table with a tipsy grin. "But, like, right here. We hide, he gets drunk, then we ambush him and-"  
Butch interrupted loudly enough to cover up Eros's words, "Okay, man - sounds great, whatever!" He filled his glass with more whiskey and laughed, speaking lower. "Erry, man, you gotta shut the hell up when we're in public."  
Eros giggled, beside himself, and a flash of sobriety hit long enough for him to realize he hadn't eaten yet and the liquor's effect was heightened. "Shit, man - my eyes won't even focus."  
"When did you become such a lightweight? Oh!" Butch smacked Eros in the arm and nodded to the stairwell leading into the Third Rail. Eros glanced back and saw MacCready appear with his eyes down, not noticing the men watching. "Party's startin' early."  
Eros watched MacCready hit up the bartender as he slumped onto a stool. There were fresh tears in the duster he wore and Eros could see the edge of bandaging peeking out from beneath a sleeve. He looked exhausted - a perfect mood for getting drunk and making bad decisions. They waited until MacCready had downed a few shots and started in on a beer before they moved.  
They appeared on either side of him, Eros sweeping a hand across the man's back to rest his arm over his shoulders. MacCready tensed and jerked his elbow back without looking. He caught Eros in the side and Butch snickered. Eros did his best to sound smooth and charming, "Hey, Creads - Mr. Mayor said we ought'a have a talk. Is this a good time?"  
Of course it wasn't a good time. Eros could see a new gouge on the man's cheek and there was a stain of blood on his thigh. MacCready bristled and snapped, "I don't have anything to say to you idiots. Just fu- go away."  
Butch made the younger man cringe when he touched his nose to his ear and whispered something Eros couldn't hear. The look on the guy's face made Eros grin, however, as a light blush dashed across MacCready's face before he made an effort to push them away. He was strong, but he was lean - Butch and Eros had spent the good part of a decade thrashing people and stabbing Super Mutants, and his attempts weren't more than wriggling. "No, no, look, Creads," Eros slurred, shaking his head to try to clear the fogginess behind his eyes, "Hancock told me I gotta. So we gotta." MacCready didn't respond, so he continued. "Alright, I'll go first. Hey - I'm sorry about all the, uh, shit I said I'd do to your family before I, uh, found out you guys didn't have any parents. That was pretty fucked up. Speaking of which, why do you look like you've just been rumbling with a Yao Guai?"  
MacCready grimaced at him and sighed shortly. "It's none of your business. Look, I don't know how many times I have to say it, but I don't want anything to do with you two. I don't care if Hancock likes you because you're both assho- _ugh_ , egotistical or if all of the damn Commonwealth falls in love with you. You have some weird stuff going on in your head and I don't want to be anywhere near you when you go crazy."  
Butch leaned down to his ear again, and Eros heard him growl, "Man, that's the best part."  
MacCready swiped at him and Butch chuckled, grabbing the man's beer to swig it back. MacCready was struggling to find a way to respond that didn't involve 'fuck' or 'shit' and he ended up just rolling his eyes to glare at the wall behind the counter. He muttered, "You owe me for that."  
Eros sparked with a thought and squeezed MacCready's shoulder, refusing to lose his grip on the smaller man as he fought with Butch. "Hey, he's right, Butch. We owe him! How about we celebrate the vast, dirty expanse of the Capital with some real drinks? You like chems? Don't tell me you're that big of an asshole - everybody likes chems."

MacCready had fought it, but the men had an aura about themselves that seemed to transcend reality and made everything work in their favor. When he'd tried to leave, the shots he'd forgotten about hit MacCready like a mine blast and Eros easily pulled him to the VIP room while Butch bought more liquor. When he'd tried to lift himself away, Eros just got closer, edging himself to MacCready's side with a strange look in his eyes. When he'd tried to speak, even shout at him, Eros would smack his jaw upward and made his teeth click. He was pissed off and drunk, and the wounds on his arm and back stinging with fresh tearing. He was too fucking tired to fight the men - whatever they wanted, it'd be over soon, and he could go back to being pissed and angsty.  
He'd been so stupid. With two days before the Gunners sent out contracted raiders to drag him from Goodneighbor and put him in the dirt, he'd tried to find the Prevent again, the goddamn cure he'd traveled for, hidden away in the lowest levels of one of the most feral-infested buildings in the Commonwealth. Of course he'd failed to even get inside, this time. The goddamn ferals were congregated inside the parking garage and swarmed towards him before he'd even hit the pavement leading to the door. He'd gotten away, but one had leapt towards him like an animal and dragged its bony, torn claws across his arm and leg. He'd smashed its head in with the butt of his gun before the ghoul was able to rend him any more, but another swiped at his back and tore a bare-bone grasp through his clothing, one finger digging down enough to break the skin. They'd been so fucking vicious, MacCready just wanted to get drunk enough to forget it all and try again in the morning.  
He was seeing the ghouls' gaping, screeching maws and empty eyes in his mind when Butch entered the room with a shout. "'Ey, they got this beer I never heard of! Gwin-et, yeah?"  
"Sounds cheap," Eros commented off-handedly, turning himself on the couch to stare straight at MacCready, a smirk on his lips. "So, Creads - I think it's great how scared of me you are, but you gotta relax, man. I'm a full-blooded good guy, now."  
MacCready scoffed and tried to lean away, but Eros's grip was iron. "I'm not scared of you. Or him," he nodded towards Butch, who was working on pulling the cap off of a beer with his fingers, having abandoned their stock of booze on the floor by his feet. "I don't trust you - that's enough to keep us from ever needing to be around each other. I'll be gone or dead in two days, either way, so just keep your distance until then."  
He regretted mentioning it when Eros raised an eyebrow and settled himself closer to his side, his chest pressing MacCready's shoulder while his knee pulled uncomfortably onto his thigh. "You got a suicide pact, man?" He was teasing him, his voice low and smooth like dark water, and MacCready just wanted them gone. "Who's comin' after you?"  
He debated whether or not to answer, glancing at Butch as the man reclined into a chair by the door to stare at something in the bar, likely Magnolia. If he told Eros, the man could decide to turn him over for the caps or, fuck, he could just kill MacCready himself just for the fun of taking it from someone else. He didn't know what did and didn't count as 'deserving it' when it came to Eros's decisions on who to maim. MacCready was a former Gunner - Eros had taken out dozen of Talon Company mercs, so why would he draw a line between aligned mercs? He was busy trying to figure out what to say through his dazed focus, and Eros shifted against him.  
"Shit, I thought I was a lightweight." He saw Butch glance over to laugh before turning his head back. "Hey, MacCready - would you say you're coherent?"  
"Yeah, I just- I don't see why you're still talking to me."  
Eros nodded with a shitty smile. "Yeah, that's what I was thinkin'."  
MacCready nearly scrambled to the floor when a sudden warmth hit him and he realized Eros had dug his head into the crook of his neck. He tried to move away, but Eros nipped his skin lightly before taking his flesh between his teeth to suck and lick like he was branding him. It happened so suddenly, MacCready was caught entirely off-guard and didn't move away, paralyzed by a drunken complacency and dull shock. The sensation sent shocks through him. He tried to speak, attempting to move from Eros's grip, but the man moved his other arm to MacCready's torso and he pushed him back to lie stiff against the couch with his face turned away, the cut near his spine aching at the contact.  
Eros spoke into his skin, "Sorry to be so ungentlemanly, Mayor, but you got a stick in your ass and you're so goddamn cute, I just wanna get you all twisted up for me."  
"Don't call me that," MacCready gritted, tensing his neck to try to stop the feeling of Eros's lips on him. "I told you, I just-"  
"Yeah, yeah," he interrupted loudly. "I'll get your trust, you little fucker, but I can't have you on someone's hit list if I wanna do that. Tell Eros your troubles and I'll clear 'em right up."  
"You don't have to and I don't want you to. Just because I met you assho- _idiots_ a long time ago doesn't mean we have to be friends."  
"You got us all wrong, Creads," Eros murmured, brushing the tip his nose against MacCready's ear as he finally left his neck. "This ain't about the Capital. I just think you're cute as shit." He pulled away to shout at Butch, "What'd we come here for, man?"  
Butch sounded distant, as though he was watching something too good to look away from. "Gonna kill the guys makin' all the robots sad."  
"See?" Eros jostled MacCready, who closed his eyes to rub his forehead in irritation. "We came to kill those guys. You're just a sexy coincidence."  
MacCready made a sound of disgust. "I tell you to suck my balls when I'm twelve, then you actually want to do it? That's fuc- that's weird, man."  
Eros pulled back enough to eye MacCready dangerously. He looked serious for a moment, just long enough to make Butch glance over in anticipation before returning to watch the bar, sipping the "Gwin-et" absently. "Don't fucking say it like that. It's only like that if you make it like that."  
"So, if I keep saying it like that, you'll stop?" MacCready grinded out as Eros moved to return to his throat with too-gentle touches and too-hard bites that made him cringe.  
Eros paused a hair's breadth from MacCready's pulse and answered lowly, "No, you just have to act like you really don't like this." He accentuated his words by biting down where MacCready's heart beat too hard from the liquor and a stupid, uncontrolled noise slipped from his mouth. It was surprise, MacCready rationalized, trying to sway himself from giving in. It was the drink in his nerves, making everything send bursts of anxious anticipation through him at Eros's touch. The arm holding his torso back swept downward, rushing down MacCready's side and over his thigh before returning to press against the other side of MacCready's neck, trapping him. He had to act like he didn't like it when Eros released the skin he held in his teeth and lavished the mark with the tip of his tongue, his breath barely audible in MacCready's ear. He knew he wasn't convincing when his breath hitched and he felt Eros grinning against him.  
Eros chuckled darkly and the hand on MacCready's neck dipped down quickly to grasp the building erection in MacCready's lap. "Seems like you like it."  
Butch glanced over again and MacCready felt self-conscious, realizing at that moment that the man was by the door to guard the room from intrusions. How many times had they done this? He was pulled back from thought when Eros trailed his tongue up the side of MacCready's throat with a soft sigh. MacCready was barely loud enough to hear himself, "What the hell are you doing?"  
"Let's call it, 'trust exercises,'" he answered with a laugh. Suddenly, Eros pressed his palm flat to MacCready's groin and found the base of his cock, fingers wrapping through the fabric to tease at him. "You're real responsive, too. Bet you get loud, huh?"  
Butch snickered and MacCready tried to use the distraction to will himself to move, to push Eros back and tell him to fuck off in nicer words. Eros moved too fast, undoing MacCready's pants to sneak his hand against soft hair and wrap his fingers around hardening flesh. MacCready was so mixed up, he couldn't decide whether to move away or stay. He'd expected threats or extortion, not whatever the hell this was, and it'd been a good while since he'd gotten laid - plus, the bitch stole caps from him, so she was technically a prostitute - and it was hard to just say no to an easy time. Hancock hadn't made them leave and MacCready tried to fit the Eros he was seeing to the stories he'd heard, but it didn't seem accurate, anymore. Not with how relaxed and confident he was - killers were freaks, but he'd even seen Magnolia eyeing the tan, muscular man, whose eyes gleamed from beneath a brush of black hair, so how evil could he really be? The liquor was making good arguments and MacCready reached out suddenly, tipping from Eros's hold to smash the man's hand against his dick and abdomen so he could grab a bottle of rum Butch had left close enough to them. As soon as his fingers wrapped around the neck, Eros laughed and pulled him back, unknowingly grinding the wound on MacCready's back with his elbow.  
"Hell yeah - let loose," he encouraged, watching with a grin as Mac threw the cap off and took a hard swig. He gasped as he swallowed the drink and pulled the bottle from his lips, his sinuses flaring with heat. "This counts as consent if you get fucked up when I've already started, right?" He wasn't really asking - he was smirking and dancing his gaze around every part of MacCready he could see.  
MacCready huffed and set the bottle on the floor. "Just shut the hell up and-"  
Eros knew what he meant. He shut MacCready up with a hard kiss, a hand moving to his jaw to pull him close. He hadn't expected the level of intimacy, and felt nervous when Eros parted his lips to taste his skin, an invitation to let the man break through whatever final defenses MacCready had left. He gasped and pulled away when Eros let his hand drift down his back, deeply irritating his wound. Butch looked over and Eros moved back, hands entirely pulled from MacCready defensively. "What's that you got there?" he asked coolly. "Feels pretty bad."  
MacCready was still flushed with his pants undone and felt fucking ridiculous as a moment of sobriety slipped through his senses. "It's nothing - just got hit on that job."  
Eros left the mood of touching far behind as his eyes lit up. It was like he couldn't stay focused for too long. "Oh, right - I saw your shit was all fucked up and I didn't even ask. Those bandages under your sleeve from the same thing?"  
MacCready answered cautiously, trying to keep from giving away too much; "Yeah. Just got caught by some ferals." Butch made a sound of disgust.  
"Can't stand those nasty fuckers," the man muttered, sipping his beer lazily.  
Eros pursed his lips in a teasing expression. "I don't think you were working. If you had been, seems like you'd be a little more fuckin' jolly about having caps. Or did you fail?"  
MacCready started fixing his clothes finally, realizing his fingertips had full motion again from the jarring series of events, but Eros slid his hand back, impeding MacCready with full resistance. The younger man huffed again and Eros's eyes glinted with amusement. MacCready muttered, "Who cares what I'm doing? I don't even know you guys that well, so it isn't really your problem."  
He used the wrong choice of words again and Eros jumped on it - "So you do have a problem. I mean, obviously, if you're dying in a couple days, but seriously. Just tell us what the fuck's up. My man was in a gang - we know loyalty, and you were our nasty-mouthed little friend. We gotta stick together, huh?" He laughed at his own dumb words, knowing they weren't convincing. "We wanna kill the 'bad guys makin' the robots sad,' but we don't know jack shit about this place until we do some exploring. Give us somethin' to do and let us get those radroaches off your ankles."  
Butch scoffed at the phrase and muttered, "Told you to stop sayin' that, asshole." Eros just grinned at MacCready, who didn't have the wherewithal to hide his hesitation. Eros shoved him lightly, trying to make him talk.  
He lied quickly, "I got hired to find a special medicine, but the place is infested with ferals. There's just too many."  
His thought process was disappearing as the rum began sinking into his blood. If the men helped him find the cure, he could leave and everything could still be fine. Eros took the bait willingly. "Alright, there we go - where we headin' then? Subway? Old school? I saw some real shit in a school once, man. Little skeletons in cages and I'm pretty fuckin' sure elves and shit aren't real."  
MacCready's perception of the man was crumbling fast as he watched him pace through emotions. He held his breath before he answered, "It's a place called Med-Tek. I'm going back tomorrow, so, I guess..." He didn't want to give Eros what he obviously wanted. He didn't want to invite the assholes along. Even if they weren't goddamn evil, they were annoying.  
"Nice! We'll meet you in the morning!" Eros disappeared from MacCready's side, finally letting the man breathe freely, and Butch rose from the seat.  
"But I got all this booze," Butch complained.  
"We'll bring it with us, dumbass," Eros laughed, shoving bottles into his arms. "We'll leave ya' some rum, Creads. Come by our room if you need some company. Let's go, Snakeboy."  
Butch kicked the back of Eros's thigh as they left with an armful each of liquor, laughing like assholes. MacCready lifted his hat to run a hand through his hair angrily, trying not to imagine how they'd act out in the wastes.


	2. Ghoulish

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Smut warning

"Hey, Creads - what's with the attitude? Stop lookin' like you just ate shit."  
MacCready groaned inwardly at Eros's comment, looking away from the man to stare at the hills nearby. They'd been walking for only fifteen minutes and MacCready already regretting leaving town with them. The whole quarter hour had been spent with Butch complaining about his goddamn feet hurting. It was giving MacCready a headache well before he expected. He answered Eros with a flat tone, "I already told you I didn't want you to come along. You invited yourselves. Don't act like I owe you anything."  
"Psh," Eros replied, shoving MacCready's shoulder. "You almost got eaten last time. What were you gonna do - see how much of you they could eat before they got tired of chasing ya'?"  
Butch laughed. "Yo, Feral Food."  
MacCready gave up on talking to them. They just wanted to fuck around, so they could do that between themselves and he could focus on getting the cure and heading south as soon as possible.  
When they finally reached Med-Tek, MacCready was leading while the two men hung back and spoke in low voices - likely shit he didn't want to hear. He could hear the ferals nearby as they came up on the building, snapping limbs off of something as they gnawed inside the parking garage. He'd brought them in to come up behind the garage, hoping it was like a nest where the brunt of their numbers stayed. Eros shushed Butch and suddenly sped up, shouldering past MacCready rudely to duck against the edge of the garage's entrance. He pulled a knife slowly from his boot and MacCready had to roll his eyes at the ridiculousness of it - no one did that shit in real life.  
Butch yawned lightly and appeared beside MacCready, throwing his arm across the younger man's shoulders. "'Ey, watch my man at work. Guy's got golden touch - like he's a goddamn grim reaper."  
Eros heard and sent a wink at them before twisting around the threshold to the sound of screeching ferals. MacCready moved to grab his rifle, but Butch pulled him against his side and shook his head. "Don't interrupt."  
MacCready watched as Eros let a Feral get close enough that he was able to shove his fingers around its throat, slamming his knife down into its skull with a thick cracking sound. Two more came near and he tore the blade back, flipping the knife in his hand to swipe it across the ferals' faces, causing them to stumble and wail. He fisted the knife tight to punch one across the jaw hard enough that MacCready heard a nasty crunch before the ghoul's mouth hung open uselessly. The other reached out blindly and Eros kicked its malformed chest, sending it stumbling back. A fourth ghoul appeared and MacCready tried to twist away from Butch's side to help. The man chuckled despite the danger. "Hey, kid, you gotta relax. Eros wants to be cool, let him. He'll be fine."  
MacCready could hardly understand how Butch stayed so calm while Eros stared down enough ferals to end most scavvers. He couldn't watch someone get torn apart again, especially not the only asshole who'd be willing to help him for nothing in return. Butch squeezed his shoulder and grinned as Eros leapt forward to shove the broken-jawed ghoul to the ground, twisting his blade back to gouge the newest one's throat open. There was the putrid sound of choked vomiting and the feral heaved to the ground, its wound and mouth fountaining bloodied acid. The man didn't pause, stepping away from the blinded ghoul that had regained its movement from the kick. He stepped to the side silently to flank it and MacCready nearly shouted when he saw the last ghoul pulling itself up, its mouth gaped horrifically. He wanted to stop watching and just end it - it was like they were playing with the ferals, using them as combat dummies, and it was the one thing MacCready couldn't protect Her from.  
Eros pulled his arm back, knife in hand and shot it from his fingers at the blind ghoul and MacCready felt the world slow as it neared the monster's throat. The hilt smacked dully against hard flesh and clattered to the floor. MacCready gawked at the incredible failure and Eros turned suddenly, bounding towards them. He whispered loudly as he neared, "Oh shit, I thought I practiced that, but I think I might've just dreamt that."  
Butch raised his eyebrows, apparently unconcerned by the ghouls making their way towards them. "You serious? I'm tryin'a tell this guy, here, that you're some kinda badass, and you pull some shit with tossing your only goddamn weapon? How the hell's that make us look, man."  
MacCready hissed, pushing Butch away from his side to grab his rifle from his back, " _Kill the fucking ferals_."  
"Shut the fuck up, man - I'm still badass. I told you, I thought I knew how to do that," Eros argued, ignoring him. MacCready fell to one knee to aim quickly, shaking from adrenaline as the gaping feral twisted towards the men, trying to run. He aimed and shot, relief making him exhale loudly as the feral dropped. The blind ghoul cocked its head towards them and screeched loudly as the shot echoed through the street. The two men turned to look at him and Eros whistled lowly. "Oh, shit, Mayor - you've done it, now."  
More yowls rose from further away and Butch muttered something rude as he undid his leg holster and threw it to Eros, who grinned darkly. There was a moment of silence as Eros strapped the holster to his thigh and pulled the handgun from it, just before scratching and the slapping of bare skin to asphalt filled the garage and four more ferals appeared, screeching and churning their heads in search of their prey. MacCready let a shakey breath out and aimed again. Three shots rang out, followed by two more from Eros as he pulled on a hair trigger, and the street fell silent. MacCready felt a sense of victory watching the area clear in moments, but the scene was ruined by Eros's continuation of their argument.  
"Look, I gotta try shit to know what I'm good at, huh?"  
"Remember how I used to call you Nosebleed? This is fuckin' why." Butch shoved Eros's shoulder and MacCready saw a glimmer of mischief in his eyes. He certainly wasn't going to start a fight with the fucker. Eros responded as he'd guessed and shoved Butch back with both hands, a grin spread across his lips. Butch stumbled back a step and smirked before running forward with his shoulder towards Eros, and MacCready heard a crack as the men hit the ground. Eros gasped a laugh and Butch rolled off of him to scramble up so he could grab Eros's ankles and pull them from the ground, incapacitating the man.  
"The fu- what are you doing?" MacCready interrupted, standing to shoulder his rifle. They looked ridiculous fighting in the dirt.  
Eros used the distraction to wrench his legs away and kicked at Butch's legs childishly. "You get back, you fucker! See if you ever get to use my grenades again."  
Butch snorted and lazily blocked the kicks with a hand. "Don't throw your shit around. Now Mac-Mayor here thinks we're just assholes."  
MacCready sighed loudly. "I already thought that, so can we please just keep moving? Otherwise, this is gonna take all day." Eros raised himself with a grumble and shook the dirt from his hair.  
"Yeah, Butch - stop bein' an asshole. Get my knife, would'ya?" Butch shoved him and Eros laughed, taking point to lead them through the garage to retrieve his blade. The front of the building was cleared and Eros didn't hesitate to throw the front door wide open, dust bursting across the interior at the rush of air. A growl raised and Eros spun his knife between his fingers with joy. 

Eros was grunting nearby, hidden behind a wall as MacCready and Butch shared a cigarette, standing outside of the elevator they'd taken to the lower level. MacCready had never gotten so deep into the facility and hope was edging at his mind, threatening to make him think things would actually work out. The grunting grew louder and MacCready set his jaw tightly before asking, "Is he fucking something?"  
Butch didn't looked surprised at the question. "Fuck nah, man. He's collecting." The vague answer left MacCready tasting copper in the each drag of the cigarette. Butch burned a long cherry - he sucked too hard.  
Finally, Eros appeared around the wall, stuffing something into his bag hastily. "Alright, so where we goin' now?" Feral blood decorated his skin and his hair was sticking to his forehead from the heat of the building. The basement was cooler, but Eros had nearly run the entire way through - showing off, Butch had said - and his cheeks has flushed from the exertion of stabbing at clawing ferals. MacCready was entirely fucked up over the men, now. They tore through hostiles like it was a game for them, practiced aiming and brutal body-slams clearing floors in minutes. MacCready hadn't even shot once inside the building, yet. He was a funny kind of lucky having them empty the facility for him.  
They were taking a break before hitting the last stretch, and Eros had decided to turn the corner and make the sickening sound of ripping flesh where they couldn't see. Now, he was grinning again like he was on a fucking adventure.  
"Uh, we just have to get to the room at the back-end," MacCready answered hesitantly, not entirely clear on the layout like Eros seemed to expect. "Probably some real ancient ferals down here."  
Eros shook his arms out and stepped forward to start a sprint down the corridor. Butch tailed him lazily and MacCready was left to stomp out their cigarette and follow. They had been completely fine clearing out the ferals inside the main building - shooting and stabbing like the practiced killers they were - but he'd had a feeling it wouldn't last. They hadn't fucked something up in nearly an hour and something had to give. When he turned the corner, Eros was trying to kick down a door as loudly as possible.  
A screech echoed like acid static from a room further down. A feral threw itself against the window of its cell and Eros shouted in aggression as he tried to wedge his knife into the door. MacCready sighed with irritation and stomped past them towards an office at the far end. It seemed the ferals were contained if they hadn't already come after the man's shouting. There was a turret on the ceiling that didn't seem to move, and he wondered if Eros had even bothered to check before bounding in.  
He was proven wrong about the room's relative safety, _of course_ , when a gutteral shriek sounded from below and MacCready flung his gun into his arms to aim. He had to move too quickly and his muscles were twitching, but he hit one of the three just as Butch laid down the other two with clean knee shots. The ferals fell to the ground and clawed forward, and he was able to calm enough to clear two headshots. He wasn't meant to fight in tight spaces - he wasn't a brute like the men focused on tearing open a locked metal door and lighting a wet cigarette. He was tactical and measured - things turning corners two yards away just stressed him out unnecessarily.  
With the outliers cleared, MacCready found the security terminal and eyed the options thoughtfully. He could open all the doors, or he could turn on the security turret and see if it would catch the fuckers off-guard. The thought was funny, but he knew he didn't have the balls to try it - with his luck, it would think Eros was a fucking employee and he'd be the only one to blame for it turning on. Either way, they didn't know how many ghouls there might be, and MacCready felt the rush of spontaneity when he threw the entire block of cell doors open without warning.  
Eros nearly snapped his arm when the door slid away suddenly. He laughed victoriously just as bare-bone hands appeared at his shoulders, and his voice raised just enough to make MacCready bite back a snicker. Eros was quick, though, and it was hardly a true effort for him to heave his blade behind the feral's eyes, skewering its brain through the temple, and it fell unceremoniously. Several ferals clawed or flung themselves from cells, but none seemed to notice MacCready behind the glass - instead, they targeted the loud men with fervor. Butch bit the filter of his half-lit cigarette and closed an eye to aim. Eros was still shaking organic mess off his knife, and didn't seem to react when Butch counted down four shots, each ending the ferals through throats and gnarled faces. It was like he'd done it too many times to think, anymore. They'd been out, somewhere in the Capital, for a decade, and MacCready hadn't once seen them or heard about anything they'd done after the Pentagon Massacre, and that had apparently happened only months after he stopped coming by Lamplight. He'd been told the men had broken into the Brotherhood base - which sounded great, at first - but had murdered everyone, including unaligned visitors and scavvers being treated for radiation poisoning or injury. It was like a kick in the teeth to the Brotherhood, who had just started a water purifier, shit that blew MacCready's mind when he found out after leaving Lamplight. Everyone wanted the Brotherhood gone because of their overdramatically and overzealous outlook on controlling the population, but the water purifier was a necessity, now, and they were only assholes to people MacCready didn't know, so he kept his head down. Settlers and caravans had told MacCready about how massive the Brotherhood numbers had been before the massacre. Apparently their numbers were buffered by wastelanders they'd taken in begrudgingly just to have enough men for patrols. Either way, MacCready had been safely underground when Eros apparently lost his shit and Butch, for whatever reason, just went along with it, so none of it was first-hand and nothing seemed to fit men's careless personalities. How could Eros have been the sole cause of a massacre of goddamned Brotherhood soldiers if he'd been the asshole to throw his knife handle at a ghoul? It just made McCready trust him less.  
Eros called out from the room, "Got a hole, Creads!" Butch disappeared into the room and MacCready followed, pausing before he left the office to think of the security turret again.  
He followed them through a fallen hallway and the men came to an even lower level with vaulted ceilings heavily coated in dust. Eros stretched his arms above his head and sighed. "Alright - new plan. How 'bout I run in and you shoot them," he said flatly to Butch.  
Butch crossed his arms. "You gotta use a goddamn gun sometimes, asshole. What if I'm busy and I can't keep 'em from tearing your ass apart, huh?"  
Eros shrugged. "Don't fix it if it ain't broke, right?"  
"You're broke," Butch muttered, "in the head."  
MacCready interrupted, "Do you guys ever stop talking? Are you actually arguing or just trying to piss me off? Why are we stopping, anyway?"  
Eros let his arms fall to his sides and looked at MacCready with a hint of disapproval. He answered, "It's called love, dickbrain. Get used to it. But, yeah, we're stoppin' just to piss you off. Works good, right?" He smirked and Butch scoffed, shaking his head as he reloaded, then tried again to light the damned wet cigarette that had turned brown.  
MacCready knew he was fucking with him, but he just wanted a straight answer. He sighed as Butch continued smoking, obviously the only reason they'd stopped, and ventured, "Why do you just run at stuff like that? You know it's dangerous, so why risk it? It's damn stupid."  
"Gotta try stuff to see what you're good at." Eros shrugged and headed forward, ignoring the annoyed sound MacCready made. They headed through hallways and dead-end rooms until they came to a shuttered lab with a terminal at the entrance. Eros didn't check if anyone was ready - he just jabbed his finger down onto the 'Enter' key and smiled at Butch with a poisonous gleam. The shutters rose to reveal a long room with skeletons on the table and the door flew open, blowing dust from the ground into the air. If it had been a comic-book, MacCready would have laughed at how dramatic the room looked - unfortunately, he knew no one had ever been here since the bombs - the ghouls had still been in their cells. Some weird shit had gone on in the room and he didn't want to know any more than that. Eros was about to comment when a glowing ghoul threw itself against an uncovered window and he leapt away from the computer.  
He shouted, "What the fuck?" Two deep-brown, twisted ferals neared the doorway and Butch made quick work of them. It bothered MacCready how little he'd done during the journey, but the men seemed content taking it entirely into their hands. He didn't want to admit that the gouges on his arms were stinging and he wanted badly to be somewhere dark and comfortable.  
Butch shouted as though he was annoyed, "The fuck you mean, 'the fuck is that?' I know you've seen glowing ferals, man."  
Eros shook his head and weighed his blade. He couldn't take down a Glowing One with a knife - he'd have to have a pretty good pain tolerance to make it long enough to stab the thing to death. He seemed to know that and hesitated, stepping towards the open door before turning to push past Butch. "Nah, man," he muttered, "somethin' ain't right about that fucker. Dude's got, like, sacs of goddamn radiation juice. I can't-"  
He was interrupted by Butch's laugh and he rubbed his eyes hard, either irritated or legitimately uncomfortable. Butch ran forward with MacCready behind him to find a spot to aim from the doorway before the brightly-lit ghoul realized the door was even open. It still clawed dumbly at the window, seeming to target Eros specifically as it howled. They laid into the ghoul from the side with bullets directly shot into its sides, legs, and decayed skull. As glowing blood spilled from its wounds and they shot wrecklessly to end it, a wave of nausea hit MacCready and he gagged, and a bullet pulled sideways. Butch cleared his throat, seeming to feel the rush as well, but kept his aim tight. The ghoul finally fell and MacCready had to pull himself away to vomit around a corner. The feeling was spreading across him, a fuzzy discomfort that made him tired and sick. He was about to try sitting on his knees to alleviate the pain in his thighs when Eros's light step sounded behind him and the man's hand landed on his shoulder.  
"You feelin' alright, man? Have anything to eat, yet?" His tone didn't sound concerned or annoyed - he seemed practiced, as though the words happened on their own. MacCready was dry heaving, now, and let himself hit the ground, one hand on the dirtied tile while the other was caught at his throat to keep it from spasming. He kept his eyes shut, trying to focus, and couldn't clear the discomfort of being blind so far from a safe place. Eros spoke again, serious for once, "Try to sit down, Creads. I need you totally still."  
MacCready obeyed as he felt the urge to vomit with each breath he took and his abdomen twisted with pain, and he landed on his ass. He took a shakey breath before gagging again and Eros's hand found one wrist, pulling his arm out. Eros moved to yank a bandana from his pocket and tied it around MacCready's upper arm painfully tight. He couldn't complain, though, as another wave of nausea hit and he doubled over, outstretched arm hitting the floor while his eyes twisted harder shut. His wrist was yanked up again and Eros exhaled shortly before MacCready felt a deep pinch at the inside of his elbow and a burning pressure that built from its core. He forced an eye open and watched Eros delicately press the syringe of deep-red RadAway into his arm with a calm, - even soft - expression. When it was cleared, he pulled the needle back, tossing the syringe somewhere over his shoulder, and leaned down to kiss the puncture while his fingers undid the bandana. MacCready was about to react when the man's hand slapped his back and he gagged again, though the feeling was finally fading.  
"All better, huh, my man?" Eros rose where where he'd been kneading beside MacCready. "You should go by a doctor more often - you might'a had some residual radiation and that nasty fuck sent you over the edge. You alright?"  
MacCready felt small staring up at Eros's flash of white teeth in a confident smile and he felt entirely mixed up again. What a couple of assholes who, for some fucking reason, wanted to help him. He hated them, but they were so fucking endearing and lucky, it seemed better to have them around. Of course he'd had rads - the cuts in his arms had burned all night and he'd forgotten to even consider RadAway, too distracted by his deadline. He answered Eros flatly as the man helped him up, "Yeah - I'm good. Uh," he had to force the word, "thanks."  
Eros seemed to hear the difficulty in his voice and snickered, leaving to join Butch in the Glowing One's room, shouting back, "Don't mention it, Cready. I got some experience, so you ain't ever gonna go without a doctor again!"  
Of course he was a trained medic somehow. Sure, everyone knew a part of themselves a bit better than the rest from impromptu field-surgery, but syringes were a dirty task people didn't trust another person to handle. He wouldn't have let Eros do it if he'd asked. MacCready was still clearing the shakes from his fingers when Eros appeared from inside the room and stepped up to the smaller man with his hand out. "There ya' go, kid - one motherfuckin' cure for some shit. You gonna be happy now?"  
The fucker didn't know what he was saying. MacCready gingerly took the Prevent Eros held in his fingers and shoved it into a pocket inside his jacket too-hastily. He could leave, now - he could just hitch a ride with the caravan Daisy would have take it, and he'd never have to worry about the goddamn Gunners again. Eros watched him with curious eyes and MacCready knew he wasn't lying well enough. The man made him nervous - one wrong word and he would be all over him with endless questions and coercion. MacCready cleared his throat uncomfortably as Butch appeared, cheek stuffed with Fancy Lads. "Uh, yeah - let's head out," he replied shortly, sweeping past Eros to retrace their steps and get himself closer to home. He could hardly contain the rush of excitement he felt with the shape of the Prevent against his chest. 

 

"You know what fucking sucks? This bullshit." Eros threw the smashed pack of cigarettes to the ground, tobacco puffing from the crumpled flip-top. He looked to Butch, who had been eyeing passersby while they leaned against the State House, letting MacCready handle his business with Daisy in peace. "Whaddya think-"  
He stopped as MacCready stalked out from Daisy's shop, eyes fixated on the ground as a look of tense rage twisted his expression. Butch followed Eros's eyes and made a noise of pity. "Bet they didn't pay him. Twenty caps says."  
Eros tilted his chin and muttered just before MacCready got close enough to hear, "Forty says it was the wrong medicine." MacCready didn't stop to talk to them - instead he stomped past hurriedly and disappeared around the corner. Eros blew a raspberry. "Damn guy. Let's follow him."  
Butch laughed, fingering through the pack Eros had thrown in search of a passable smoke. "Why are you so focused on the guy? He's so damn bitchy."  
"I like how nervous he gets. I'm gonna make him tell me scary stories about myself," he laughed, stepping away from the wall to start after MacCready. "You comin'?"  
Butch shrugged as he lit a filterless shard of cigarette and made a face of disgust at the taste. "Nah."  
Eros didn't need an explanation to leave his - boyfriend? partner? - Butch behind. He'd find something fun to do and Eros wanted to pry that iron-tight facade from MacCready. He was being a bit obsessive, maybe, but what else did he have to do? They hadn't heard anything useful about the Institute, yet, so all was fair game. He found MacCready pacing in an alley beside the Memory Den, hands rubbing down his face. He didn't notice Eros approach and started when he spoke with a grin, "What the word, my man?"  
"I just-" MacCready started before thinking. "Please, Eros. I need you to just leave me alone. I need-" He tensed his eyes and turned away, growling an angry sigh. "Fuck."  
Eros teased, "Woah, man - that's a pretty heavy word."  
MacCready wasn't interested and Eros dropped the act entirely. The younger man was holding his head, back to him, and trembled from anger. "I don't know what to do," he hissed, not to Eros, but to himself.  
Eros stepped forward to slide his hand over MacCready's shoulder, feeling the tense strain of his muscles, and he carefully lowered his voice. "What's goin' on? You need help?"  
"I don't want anymore goddamn help," MacCready answered in a rush of breath. The guy was absolutely beside himself and Eros couldn't take it.  
"Shut the fuck up, asshole. I'm gonna be straight with you - I ain't ever gonna let someone hurt or scare you, now. Whatever bullshit you've got going on, it's my bullshit, too. I don't care what you have to say about it - you did me a favor back in the day. A big one, and, if you hadn't, the Capital wouldn't be as fuckin' happy as it is, now. I owe you for that, and I'm not gonna see a good guy get kicked around just because his ego won't let him take help. Now what the fuck is up?"  
MacCready stared at the ground, noticeably calmed. "What favor?"  
Eros furrowed his brow and answered cautiously, "You let us into that Vault. It's the only goddamn reason the purifier works."  
"What the hell are you talking about? The Brotherhood built the purifier." MacCready was serious, eyes trained on Eros as his jaw dropped in offense.  
"Do they actually fucking tell people that?" Eros spat. " _I_ made that fucking thing work, _my_ dad built the goddamn thing, and the _Brotherhood of Fucks_ took it from me. Why the hell do you think I started killin' 'em?" He was shouting, now, and the words caught the attention of the Neighborhood Watch.  
MacCready had an undefinable look on his face and snapped, "Killing who - everyone who went to the Pentagon for help and just ended up getting murdered?"  
Eros narrowed his eyes - finally, he understood why MacCready thought he was some evil bastard. "The Brotherhood tell you all this shit? 'Cause it ain't true, man. Those motherfuckers took the purifier from me and I let loose killin' a couple dozen as revenge. I wasn't allowed in Rivet City or Megaton afterward... Guess that makes sense, now, if they're telling people I killed scavvers."  
"You're really telling me none of it's true," MacCready demanded. Eros shrugged, at a loss.  
"Why do you think we wanted to get into Murder Pass?" Eros asked steadily, testing him.  
"I don't know - I figured you had your stupid reasons. You were Mungos - we didn't care."  
Eros sighed in exasperation. "Creads, man, I'm tellin' you right here, right now, man-to-man - I ain't ever killed a good guy. Or a neutral guy, I guess, either. I have fun - but not with good people; ain't anywhere near as nice a time if they don't deserve it."  
MacCready looked exhausted. He ran a hand beneath his hat and straightened it hard, glancing at Eros in hesitation. "I guess it doesn't matter, either way. I guess-" He paused and Eros tipped his chin, casting light across his handsome features as though he'd practiced it. "I guess I need help. Again."  
Eros grinned. "That's my man. Now, tell me why you're freaking out in an alley, here."  
MacCready refused to tell the man he'd been a Gunner once. He still had no reason to think Eros would be fine with his past - Talon Mercs had a list of members lost to his hands, but, what the hell did he know, anymore? He made up a lie quickly and forced it through his teeth; "Mercs were hired to kill me in one more day - I thought I could just head out with the caravan the medicine's on, but it isn't coming by for another four days. I'm fucked - I can't walk back to the Capital myself."  
Eros pulled MacCready to his side and kicked the ground thoughtfully. "You're going to tell me that you're panicking over some bitch-ass mercs want you dead? I've been tellin' you all fuckin' day to let us help you out, and you don't tell me about the most vanilla problem I've ever heard a handsome guy have? For fuck's sake, Creads - what the hell did they tell you about me?"  
He was still holding MacCready's shoulder tight and he felt like Eros's strong words were hardly said in true anger. "I have to be careful out here. I have a lot on the line and I need to make sure everything works out," he answered vaguely. "I heard so much crap about you - I thought you were the guys they hired to kill me, at first."  
Eros turned his head to brush his nose against MacCready's hat and the gesture felt oddly intimate. He spoke low, as though he was trying to calm the younger man, "What's goin' on? You got a family or some secret romantic-interest in need of saving?" He laughed shortly against the hair above MacCready's hair and he felt a shiver run through him. MacCready cleared his throat uncomfortably and shifted beneath the weight of Eros's thick arm.  
"Just need to get rid of a specific group of Gunners and I'll be fine." Eros nodded slowly.  
"Let's do it then. Right now."  
"What? No, it's already dark," MacCready argued, trying to measure how much strength it would take to heave the man's arm off his back.  
"Then," Eros mused, moving his hand to weave through MacCready's hair, bumping his hat to skew it awkwardly, "we'll pass the time till then." He moved fast enough that he'd already twisted MacCready sideways to press his lips to his neck and a sound of response came in the form of a muted gasp. He felt Eros's lips perk into a smile against him, teeth grazing along the skin of his throat with a sensitive shock.  
No matter what happened to him, the cure was on its way. He could die there and know that Duncan was fine. Maybe giving in to the touches Eros glossed along his side and jaw wasn't too insane, and maybe he could have some fun for fucking once. He just didn't expect it to be with the guy Three Dog had called a, "bloodthirsty monster." Maybe it was even thrilling that the fucker was pressing MacCready against the brick wall, now, laying into his neck like he wanted to mark him for the world to see. Eros groaned against his skin, thrusting against MacCready's leg to prove how hard he'd gotten, already. He could hardly focus enough to grab Eros's shoulders and mutter, "We're in public."  
Eros got excited, wrapping MacCready into a tight embrace as he laughed into the crook of his neck. "Baby, I'd fuck you on a stage."  
MacCready felt uncomfortable, humid warmth on his neck and knew he was flushed, probably red as the marks Eros was leaving along his Adam's apple, now, tipping MacCready's chin up with his cheek. His teeth grazed skin and bumped muscle so subtly but hard enough to make small gasps leave MacCready's lips, loud enough to hear only when Eros craned his neck to listen. He dragged his lips up the curve of MacCready's jaw and the hand still dug into his hair gripped tight, yanking MacCready's head back further. His ass hit the wall as Eros thrust again, apparently unable to contain himself as he bucked against MacCready's leg. He could feel his hardness, though, perfectly well - it felt thick and heavy, more aggressive than the siren-calls of a woman's soft curves. He had to let a sound of appreciation drift against Eros's black hair as MacCready imagined that cock buried inside him. He was blushing again, caught up in the thought of being fucked, when Eros pulled away enough to whisper in his ear, "Come to my room, baby. I'll make you feel love." 

The demand had been a bit oddly-phrased, but MacCready understood it now. He was on his back, legs pressed to his sides by Eros's hands, and he was kissing him as deeply as a lover would, rather than the chaste kisses of a quickie-partner. He had pressed his tongue into MacCready's mouth, but only to explore his finite details and absorb his taste, breaking away only enough to grunt softly. Eros touched him like he was special somehow, and it made him want to let go. He didn't want everything to get complicated, but it was so fucking hard when all he could was miss Lucy and feel like shit. He wanted to let himself feel something for someone else, but he knew damn well Eros wasn't the one he should be considering, especially when it'd been made clear that he and Butch were a permanent thing. He was cursing himself when Eros brought him back to the present.  
His hands were gliding down Mac's chest, wrapping his cock for only a moment before dropping him to squeeze at the muscle of his thighs. He groaned and Eros chuckled, appreciating the lean curves of his hips and sides. He moved a hand to MacCready's throat, testing his pulse, while the other glided over his hip to squeeze his ass aggressively. The man looked as though his mind was beyond what he saw - MacCready felt like a pawn under the dominating gaze Eros held.  
He looked like a devil raised to torture and fuck. His hazel eyes glowed brightly against the lamplight from the table and his skin was cast in a flaming-bronze that made him look like a dark god. It almost made MacCready cringe away just from looking at him, but Eros kept his focus as he moved down to kiss the head of Mac's weeping cock. Mac let a small, strangled groan leave him, and tried to promise himself to retain some dignity by staying quiet from then on. He could enjoy how Eros touched him without giving the man the satisfaction of owning him completely - he had to stay distant, no matter how much he wanted to pull the man onto him and beg to hear more sweet words.  
Eros's lips parted and engulfed MacCready's head, fingers still trailing against the muscles and flesh of his torso, and he let a deep moan of contentment vibrate through MacCready's nerves. Mac groaned again, already breaking his promise to himself, and exhaled loudly. Eros was playing with him. His fingers dug into his hips with just enough strength to make MacCready whine so fucking pitifully that he tried to wrestle away from the grip. Eros just held tighter, pressing his palms into the curve of Mac's ass as he pushed the man's hips upward. He repeated the movement until Mac was effectively being used to fuck his mouth, and he could feel the tightness of Eros's throat slowly giving at the stretch of his cock. Every catch of slick, tightened flesh against the head of his cock made him groan and he had to hazard a glance down, catching a glimpse of Eros's dilated eyes staring up at him as he fucked himself. It was enough to make the younger man squirm and moan lowly, and Eros took it as a signal to move forward.  
The heat of his mouth disappeared and MacCready bucked into the air, embarrassed at his own desperation. Eros laughed and Mac hesitantly brought his eyes to the man again. He watched Eros rounding the head of his own cock with a malicious grin and the lust in his eyes made MacCready's dick twitch involuntarily. Eros said in a low voice, "You got a real name I can call you, babe?"  
Mac shut his eyes to keep from losing the tension in his groin. "RJ - Robert, uh, Robert Joseph, Mac, whatever. Please."  
He heard the spark in Eros's voice. "Please, huh? Please what, RJ, baby?" His voice moved closer and MacCready felt the man arch over him, erection brushing dangerously against his own. "Let loose for me, man. No one's gonna judge you. I know you like being a badass-" a hand wrapped around the back of MacCready's head and he was lifted up just enough to brush his lips against Eros's "-but I want to see you squirming." He heard the grin in Eros's voice, but focused, instead, on the feeling of his other hand dipping between them to wrap around their cocks. He couldn't suppress the moan that slipped between them and Eros brought their lips together fully, moaning deeply to encourage noises from the younger man as they thrust together in his grip. He continued speaking in a voice MacCready could only describe as sexual - his tone was dropped and he sounded tense, as though he'd been waiting for this; "God, you're fucking sexy, RJ. I could suck your cock for days to see that cute face all red for me."  
His hands swept upward, abandoning their erections in favor of cradling MacCready's jaw so that Eros could lay a hard kiss against him again, pulling RJ's lower lip between his teeth to suck it red. "Let me fuck you, baby," he growled, moving his lips to RJ's ear so he could thrust against his cock. "You'll fuckin' love me."  
RJ nodded. It almost sounded like a threat, but RJ didn't have time to process before Eros was sliding something clear and viscous over his length and RJ felt the horrifying pressure of a cock against his ass. He'd never actually gone this far - it had always ended somewhere earlier, so the lack of intimacy could be retained. He had to relax, and Eros didn't appear patient as he pushed inward slowly, testing RJ's reaction until he settled the thickest part of his cock inside the tightest rings of muscle. He stopped and watched RJ try to adjust, holding back pained sounds as he tried to make the stinging stop. RJ whimpered again and Eros swept his head to the side to capture his lips in another kiss, both encouraging and comforting as he pushed deeper. His voice came as a strangled gasp against RJ's lips, "Fuck, you're tight. Fuck."  
MacCready's breath came as quick exhales as Eros stretched him, deep twinges of pain shooting up his spine. Eros grinned against his lips, hovering their mouths close to absorb the sounds RJ made. He stopped moving once he buried himself half-way and Eros leaned back. His pupils were blown wide and his lip twitched dangerously as he kneaded Mac's thighs.  
Eros asked in a soft voice, "Ready?" He took the irritated response MacCready muttered as approval and scooped his hands beneath the sniper's ass to angle his hips. Before RJ knew what he was doing, Eros pulled back and fucked into him hard. RJ arched and stifled a shout - the angle he was held in let Eros slam and slide against a spot that made his cock twitch and his mind blank. Eros blew air appreciatively and asked, "You ever been like this, baby?"  
RJ was fucking trembling and Eros held his place inside him. He answered shakily, "N-not like this."  
Eros smirked and dragged his hips back again; "Like this?" He thrust forward again, this time not pausing, and RJ missed biting back a deep moan that came like a shout. Eros seemed satisfied by the response and seemed to focus, holding the younger man's hips tightly to hold him in place as he started a heavy pace. Every second, Eros ground against that fucking spot and RJ's whole body tensed as ecstacy ran through his veins.  
Eros's lips were at his throat again and he heard the man murmur, "You're fuckin' gorgeous, babe." The petted ego didn't help as the man's hands slid between them to wrap RJ's cock in a wavering grip that seemed to only make him harder. Eros kept talking against his skin as he set a pace of sliding himself right against whatever it was making MacCready's head light; "I usually try to get to know someone a little better before I get them down, but I swear, I've never seen someone who needed to get laid as much as you."  
Mac turned his head in offense, the only real move he could make as he arched with a tremble. He demanded tightly, "What the hell does that mean?"  
Eros chuckled, ghosting breath along Mac's skin as he dragged his hips back only to fuck into him again, harder than before. "Means you're fucking tense, and there's nothing better than getting a stressed-out guy all hot and hard. Know why?" RJ managed a glance as a response as Eros repeated the hard, almost-painful jerk of his hips that combined too-well with the pleasure riding his nerves. "All that stress gets you distracted and you forget how easy it is to just relax. So it makes it real quick to make you do _this_." His words were punctuated by a sudden speed and eveness in his movements and RJ let his lips part before the ecstacy built and he lifted into the thrusts with a strangled cry and a string of moans. He could barely hear Eros laughing softly over the unabated sounds suddenly filling the room. Every fucking movement the man made had Mac's chest heaving - it was like his touch alone injected pleasure into his nerves. There was a building tension in his head that combined with the tightness beneath his cock and Eros closed his eyes to tip his head back, moaning lowly. He was so calm compared to MacCready and it only served to make the younger man feel even more twisted up by the casual intimacy.  
Eros lifted his eyelids slowly and the tip of his tongue darted against his lip, pulling it between his teeth like he'd practiced the move in a mirror; burning amber caught the deep blue of RJ's eyes and the man spoke like a demon, "You wanna come for me, _Robert_? I can lick it off you or suck that nice cock of yours. Or do you want me to just fuck it out of you?" He grinned and his teeth glinted orange in the lamplight.  
MacCready realized he actually wanted an answer and had to scramble for thought. His voice was uneven and jerked from him as Eros slowed to watch his expression. "I, uh, fu- don't stop."  
Eros let a breathy chuckle precede a long moan as he buried himself deep and leaned forward again, thrusting only inches into the deepest parts of Mac that seemed to connect to his spine and sent shocks to his brain. Grunted moans were forced from RJ as the strange ecstacy became almost blinding. Fingers wrapped strategically at his cock, moving pressure teasingly across his burning skin. "Say my name. Beg me to let you come."  
He'd never heard someone whisper the kind of filthy shit Eros said - no one had time or cared to come up with any of it. He couldn't keep holding back - he didn't want to. Eros became totally enveloped in spreading worshipping kissing along Mac's throat and jaw and he let the feeling of the man's touch break the last of his inhibitions. He couldn't give a fuck if the neighboring room heard or if Hancock himself was stirred from a violent high to hear him getting fucked. Eros seemed pleased by the moans rising in pitch that left RJ too quickly, too loudly, and far too frequently and groaned in response, lips grinning against his skin. Eros finally picked up the pace of his hand on RJ's cock and slid delicious friction along his length as he jerked him off.  
RJ whispered in a voice that sounded foreign in the way it rasped, hardly focused, "Eros, fu- let me-" he cringed as Eros thrust aggressively and chuckled "-let me come."  
Eros spread his lips and breathed hot air against RJ's pulse, answering, "Come for me, baby." RJ couldn't hold back if he'd wanted to. Eros was absolutely fucking gorgeous and he'd tried to avoid focusing on it, but he couldn't help watching through his eyelashes as Eros lifted away just enough and his brow furrowed and features went slack in pleasure, a glint of hazel peaked out from beneath his heavy eyelids. Eros glided his free hand up RJ's torso, fingers digging into his abdomen and chest, drifting against his collar bones and nipples with light touches of his nails.  
It felt like a river of fire inside him, caught between Eros's cock and fingers, and RJ arched harder, turning his head to grind his face into the mattress. "I- ah, _fu_ -" The curse was lost as his whole body tensed. He was cumming, finally, white heat rushing into Eros's hand. Too many sounds were trying to leave him at once - growling, groaning, shouting - and they were met by a nearly-whimpered moan from Eros that hit his ears like a song. Eros rode him through it, his jaw loose as he watched RJ's cum drip over his fingers. Just as RJ was coming down, he felt the fill of Eros's orgasm, deeper than he could comprehend with a fuzzy mind.  
They breathed heavily for a moment and RJ's eyes closed as Eros dropped his legs to the bed and he finally felt the cramping of his leg muscles. He commanded shortly, "Hey, watch this." RJ forced an eye open only to be caught by seeing Eros drag his lower lip up the side of his hand, catching cum against his teeth. His tongue swept between his fingers and he cleaned his hand entirely, a look of deviant joy in his eyes as RJ groaned and laughed.  
Eros exhaled loudly like he'd been running and fell to the bed beside him. He dug a hand beneath RJ's deadweight and wrapped his arms around his waist to pull him flush to Eros's body. He definitely hadn't expected cuddling.  
"There - now it'll be an easy sleep, huh?" RJ laughed shortly, still catching his breath. He felt Eros press a kiss to the back of his neck before the man settled into sleep almost instantly. Things were getting very complicated.


	3. The Cure

MacCready woke in a tangle of strange arms, staring into a scar along a bare torso. It was hot as hell and he had to adjust to find some cool air away from the men he found on either side of him. He was turned to Butch, he realized, as he slid back. Eros was pressed against him from behind, an arm over RJ's waist as he breathed against his neck. He remembered falling asleep with Eros - when had Butch gotten there?  
Eros woke as soon as RJ began to lift his arm, a sharp intake of breath followed by, "Don't leave, yet." His eyes were still only half-open and he was grinning stupidly at RJ like he'd made a joke. Of course he was cute in the morning.  
"It's fucking hot in there," RJ replied quickly, disappearing from between the other two men. He didn't know how he felt about sleeping between two people without it being a camping-in-terrible-weather trope. If Eros had been alone, he might have pursued Eros, but now he just one of their statistics, he guessed. Butch was interesting though. He hadn't spent any real time alone with the man, but he remembered the gorgeous half-smile and ridiculous ego. RJ took a moment to glance over him as he slept - Butch's black hair was always somehow untouched and his skin glowed in the same way Eros's did. Both men were deeply tanned, partially by the sun, and their stupid teeth practically shined in any light - it seemed impossible for them to not be fucking. In a bought of self-consciousness, RJ wondered why the hell Eros bothered bringing him to their room when Butch was already his... whatever they were.  
He couldn't imagine knowing Lucy or anyone else he'd been with was fucking someone else. It was horrifying. But, here he was, fucking a guy who was fucking a guy, and somehow they all ended up sleeping together. He was pulling up his pants when Eros wriggled across the mattress in a daze and curled against Butch's chest, sighing softly. RJ had never felt so out-of-place.  
He left the room as silently as possible and breathed deeply as he shut the door behind him. What the fuck was he doing? The most he'd ever had with another guy was a blowjob or some fingering, but he woke up to a sore ass and a fucking couple surrounding him.  
It wasn't natural - it was scary as hell. 

 

They hit the dirt of the wastes leaving downtown by ten that morning and RJ could hardly believe that he was headed for the Gunner outpost with the insane men who'd torn through Murder Pass and saved his son and slept inches from him that morning. He had to wonder if he'd been killed already and was just dreaming the ridiculous shit he'd done in the past two days as he bled out somewhere.  
"Hey, babe - what's your favorite color? I forget." Eros was chewing on a long splinter he'd found in a blasted-apart tree. Butch had shouted at him for it, but he seemed happy to stick it between his molars like some inane Pre-War fuckhead. He was grinning as he asked the question, enjoying the look on Butch's face.  
"What? Why would I care?" Butch shot back.  
"In case I ever buy you some shit, I gotta know what colors you like."  
"Erry, babe, shut the fuck up. I don't got 'favorite colors.'"  
Eros was quiet for a moment before insisting, "You got favorite hairstyles. Why not colors?"  
"Hey, fuck you, sweetheart," Butch snapped, though RJ could hear that tiny glint of smile that gave him away.  
"Okay, well," Eros sighed, "what's your least-favorite color, you fucking heathen?"  
Butch made a thoughtful noise and answered, "Orange and you, right now."  
RJ heard one snicker before he inevitably got pulled into it. "Aw, babe, you scorn me." Eros called up, "RJ, what's your favorite fucking color?"  
He grunted, trying to ignore them, but they expected an answer. "Caps."  
"You guys are the worst to travel with," Eros muttered. "Like, shit - the fuck's a guy gotta do to get to know the assholes he's traveling with?"  
RJ glanced over his shoulder to see Eros clicking through his Pip-Boy while Butch glared at the horizon. "Haven't you two been together for, like, ten years?"  
Butch met his gaze and scoffed. "We grew up together, so it's been a fucking lifetime. Plus, we've been busy."  
"Doing what?" RJ asked incredulously, turning his eyes back to their path. "I thought you guys died after the Massacre."  
Eros laughed loudly. "We've been saving people, cutie."  
RJ shot a look at him and Eros grinned, knowing RJ hated the word the moment he heard it. Butch added, "Nasty place called the Pitt. Sucks ass there. Not so much, now, but..." He trailed off as Eros glared at him. "What?"  
"Just because they don't like you doesn't mean it sucks there. You didn't impress them," Eros answered curtly.  
"Four fucking years is long enough to just get used to a guy!" Butch hissed, crossing his arms.  
RJ was quick to interrupt, "What about the other six years?"  
Eros punched his partner lightly in the shoulder and replied, "Well, since you're so fuckin' interested in us, we've been in a place called Point Lookout, too - gotta take a boat there. Spent three and a half years out there clearing out the inbreds. Then we spent the other two and a half in-between - you know, scavved for awhile, tried to convince people gambling was fun, did some charity work."  
RJ replied evenly, "Charity, huh? So, how much if that answer wasn't a lie?"  
"Two-thirds, at least," Eros answered too-quickly. "And what about you, Mister Mayor? The hell you been doing?"  
RJ stared out at crumbling highways as he tried to reason an answer. "Just, uh, getting by." Something hard hit his back and he looked behind him to see Eros picking up the flip-lighter he'd thrown.  
"That's bullshit, buddy. What're you hiding?" He could hear the joking tone, but couldn't ignore the truth of it.  
RJ bit his cheek and thought quickly. If anyone else had been willing to help him through Med-Tek and, now, clear out the Gunners harassing him, he would have been indebted to them forever. He didn't know why he wouldn't translate that same favor to Butch and Eros - the men hadn't even known the real weight of what they were doing and they'd blown through to the cure and used their own RadAway for him. The Brotherhood was absolutely full of bastards - if he'd known they were the ones to spread the stories about Eros, he never would have listened. Now he was mixed up and couldn't see the rational choices, anymore. He inhaled shortly and answered, "I got married."  
Eros sucked his teeth loudly. "Oh, man, don't tell me I'm a homewrecker."  
The tone of the conversation became unbalanced and uncomfortable. "She died. Few years back."  
There was a pause and a hand appeared on his shoulder. Eros was at his side already and Butch followed. They'd been behind him for most of the journey, and RJ instantly felt claustrophobic. They didn't talk for awhile, just touching lightly against his side as they walked. He was relaxing again after thinking about Her and his past and all the stupid shit he had to hide, now.  
A hand slid across his back to his shoulder and squeezed and Eros spoke softly, "Hey, man, I'm sorry. Don't think about it, now. We'll get this shit done and you can relax, alright?"  
RJ could hardly believe the sincere words belonged to the man. He was entirely serious, focused on the horizon like his mind was somewhere else. He felt a brush of skin against his ear and Butch added, lowly, "And we can always be a good distraction." 

 

They reached the Mass Pike Interchange sooner than RJ expected - the sun was still high in the sky and he didn't see any kind of advantage to fighting in midday. He regretted following Eros's words like a dumb dog - they should have planned the attack at night and with an actual fucking plan. Eros was absolutely beaming with fucking confidence, however. He grinned up at the highway and cracked his knuckles. "I'm gonna get so nasty. What do they want you for, RJ?"  
The question was so damned innocent, RJ felt real guilt trying to lie. "Just have a contract out. If they're dead, they can't take it, right?"  
Eros was quiet while Butch lit a cigarette immediately in front of RJ's face, both men's arms slung casually across his shoulders. Their fucking limbs weighed nearly as much as he did.  
In a moment, he was twisted from the comforting hold and stood with Eros's hands on his jaw, that stupid splinter of wood sticking out between his lips. He spoke in a hard tone like he was talking to a child. "Stop it, Robert-fucking-Joseph-fucking-MacCready. You're being stupid. Stop it. Just," he pushed his face close to RJ's and stared into his eyes with a hazel flame that made his chest hurt, "stop lying."  
RJ felt a blush rush across his face and he regretted being so fucking terrible at lying. What had he said wrong? He should have lied more, maybe. Or maybe this was a mistake. Maybe he could just disappear with the dust and stop having to deal with all of this. "What?" he answered lamely, staring back into Eros's stinging irises.  
"Just be fuckin' straight with us, huh? I know you got some shit goin' on - you're all nervous and closed-off. What's the deal, man? You and I were cool back in the bar and now you're all uptight and shit."  
His eyes were set hard on RJ and Butch watching them as he smoked wasn't any help. They were so close and RJ was panicking, now. "I don't know. I don't fucking know." He cursed, he knew, but Duncan was so goddamned far away, and maybe, one day, he'd tell them about the insane men that made him curse. "I can't- I don't-"  
He ducked down, losing the Eros's grip on his jaw, and turned from them to calm himself. He had to handle the Gunners. They would. The Gunners had to disappear, at least, and this was it. Once they were gone, nothing would stand between him and his son. He would be a good fucking father or he'd die in the wastes - either way, he was going to make a real fucking effort. It didn't matter what they knew, as long as he kept their attention long enough to get it done.  
Eros and Butch let him stand yards away, and he even heard a lighter flip as Eros lit a cigarette while Mac stood with his back to them. He just had to relax, like Eros said. He had to make his subconscious understand that he was going to be fine, no matter what - even if it took selling their skins to the Gunners to be free from their annoying bullshit. Not that he would sell them out. Maybe. 

 

It was especially hard to relax when Eros decided to take point and launched himself up to the Gunner encampment like it was a fucking party he'd been invited to. There was a quick moment during which a couple of heads turns towards him before he drew the handgun Butch had lent him and fired off haphazardly. RJ didn't know if he was pissed or thrilled to see the heads jerk back before they disappeared from sight - he'd shot a flurry of clear goddamn shots. RJ hung back to take down the outliers that appeared at the noise while Butch took his place by Eros to start mowing them down with practiced shots. He didn't know what he'd expected - maybe some subtlety or planning, at the very least - but bullets were already flying and he had to roll with it.  
It got serious when a buzzing filled the area and an Assaultron's laser began charging, sending red light across the highway. RJ stuttered and searched for it as he heard Eros shout, "Hey, babe! It's like KL-E-O!"  
The robot came closer and RJ let his muscle memory take over to aim at its lit red eye and took his shot. Eros threw his arms up as shards exploded from the Assaultron's face and he shouted something complimentary, but RJ couldn't focus enough to hear him as more targets appeared in the distance. The Gunners deeper in the camp outnumbered them several times, but Eros was distracting enough and Butch was putting them down fast enough that RJ felt like he was at a shooting range with how easily the bodies fell. He counted seven headshots and a gut-shot before Eros doubled over, hands on his thighs with a big grin as he panted. He met RJ's eyes for a moment, some kind of wanton mischief in his gaze, before the man sprinted away, vaulting over a cement barricade before screaming exploded from where he landed. Eros bent down and disappeared from view and the screaming grew louder. RJ was caught by the sound of a lighter igniting and found Butch smoking again, casual as all hell surrounded by bloodied cadavers.  
RJ moved forward to follow the voice pleading for help, but Butch held his hand out from yards away and insisted, "Just stay here. Take a breather. Wanna drag?" He held the burning cigarette out to RJ and the sniper felt a flash of worry cross his mind. It wasn't normal to torture people unless you had a goal, and, even then, it wasn't common among anyone who wasn't a raider. Whoever the Gunner was, RJ was sure they deserved whatever Eros was doing to them, but he couldn't help but feel bothered by how calmly Butch was taking in the scenery.  
"What is he fu- the heck is he doing?" RJ hissed, trying to lay low in case more Gunners were coming to check out the racket.  
Butch didn't seem concerned with the fight, anymore, and took back his cigarette to take a long drag. "Just wait till he's done. Let him have some fun, huh?"  
_Fun_ \- they used the word liberally. They had fun fucking people besides each other, they had fun throwing themselves into terminal situations, and they had fucking _fun_ making a person shriek for mercy. RJ felt cold at the sound of a cry that seemed to weep death. Seconds passed before Eros popped back into view with a grin. It was different, now, though - his eyes burned like Butch's cigarette and RJ swore the man licked his teeth like a predator. He spoke in the voice of roadkill, "What's left?"  
The question in itself was odd - what, rather than who, as though he wanted to tear into bodies like meat. RJ shifted uncomfortably and looked to Butch, who finally turned to Eros and answered, "No one but us, you fuckin' lunatic."  
RJ couldn't help but notice the stain of blood left behind as Eros slid over the cement barrier, both hands coated in blood. The man laughed; "Now, we can get RJ alone and all vulnerable." He wriggled his fingers in front of him and RJ looked away, trying to seem annoyed. "We get 'em all, handsome?"  
He realized Eros was speaking to him and glanced around - "I don't know - we haven't actually gone into the camp, yet." He checked through his scope, monitoring what little beyond the barricades he could see. "Looks calm, but I don't see Winlock or Barnes or the Commander."  
"Oh, so we just got the boss battles left. Let's do it." MacCready wanted to stop him from just bolting off again - he wanted to shake the man and insist that forethought and planning was what kept people alive. But how could he tell the fucking Vault Dweller how to survive? By the time Eros was the age RJ got married, he'd already purified the Capital's water supply and turned into a legend - or a myth or a horror story, apparently. So, he stayed quiet. He let Eros kick a foot to the gravel before sprinting through the mangled corpse of a bus that led straight to the camp's heart.  
RJ remembered too much from his days at the camp to keep his head clear. There were so many nights he'd dangled his legs from the edge of the Exchange with an unlit cigarette between his lips, wondering if he'd light it or jump. Of course he'd never jumped knowing Lucy was waiting for him back home. But, now that nagging comfort of a life was gone and he caught himself measuring the distance to the ground. Butch had disappeared and a new fight was starting.  
RJ shot through the bus to lay flat between shadowed seats that kept him hidden. Through his scope, he saw Eros already standing behind a burst turret that sent flames licking at the chest of a man he held in a stranglehold.  
It looked like Winlock and the Commander had stayed hidden when the firefight started - so fucking predictable. Barnes, however, was nowhere to be seen and RJ tensed at the thought of being flanked. The man in Eros's grip was the Commander RJ knew nothing about - the guy had been sent to the Exchange just before RJ left and he hadn't formed any kind of acquaintanceship with the guy. RJ wasn't sure if that made it easier or harder to watch at Eros bent the man forward, grinning like a starved jackal, and the flames of the burning turret began eating away at the man's clothing beneath his armor. Butch came into view holding something long in his hand, and, as he threw it to Eros, RJ realized it was whiskey. Eros used his teeth to undo the cap before jerking forward to engulf the man's face in flames and dumping the liquor straight down the back of the man's head. Eros moved away just quickly enough to avoid the burst of fire that built like a mushroom cloud over hair and flesh, and the scream that concluded it all was nothing short of grotesque. The man tried to throw himself back, but too much had been done - RJ didn't watch, but he could imagine the Commander's eyes had gone first, and that was enough to make him cringe away.  
Winlock was still left, and MacCready searched the field between them to find that they'd gut-shot him, leaving Winlock writhing. He was trying to crawl towards a gun that had dropped and MacCready felt the surge of opportunity. He aimed, exhaled, and shot straight into Winlock's outstretched hand. The shot drew the attention of Butch and Eros, and Winlock shouted in pain as his palm exploded with gore. He couldn't shoot, now, even if he reached a weapon. He couldn't move, he couldn't fight - RJ had never dragged out a fight, but this was satisfying in a shameful way.  
He glanced to the men and realized Eros was watching - Butch, of course, had decided it was over and was already wandering into a sleeping quarter. Eros looked intent and excited and seemed to want RJ to continue. He swept his scope back to Winlock, only about fifteen yards off, and considered the shrieking form. Winlock was a fuckhead - he'd done everything he could to piss RJ off just because it was easy. So, he aimed, he exhaled, and he shot.  
Once through the shoulder had the man screaming in agony again. Sniper bullets weren't meant for torture - their long, thick shape tapered flesh and muscle with the intent to destroy. It had to hurt.  
Again, now through a leg, spreading the pain evenly as he remembered every time he kept him from going home to Lucy, every time he'd degraded him for existing, and every time that motherfucker told RJ he could have him killed for a handful of caps. The noise Winlock made was so much more defeated and drained, now - it was the end. One last shot splashed a portion of Winlock's skull across the pavement and a faint clapping followed. Eros was grinning and fucking applauding. RJ felt a little sick. 

 

Butch was bored, again. Sure, he could have been looting or something, but Eros loved doing it himself and always got huffy if Butch neglected to fill his pockets with useless shit like glue and screws and shit. MacCready was still off in the bus carcass, pretending to reload again. Butch understood. Eros could be a bit of a handful, especially when he was trying to 'teach' someone about killing. It was his third favorite thing - after sex and Butch, obviously - and the man wasn't patient about showing others how thrilling it could be.  
He'd seen the fucker, Barnes, trying to grab the gun, but Eros had stopped him and told him to make RJ do it. It was like he'd become the assistant to the bullshit Eros had put him through, too. He was always so sure he knew people, and he'd never been wrong, so Butch had shrugged it off to find the whiskey Eros wanted. He was such a happy guy when fire got involved.  
Eros was now crouched beside the melted flesh of the big guy whose screams were still caught in Butch's head. Butch eyed MacCready and started towards him, watching the sniper busy himself with adjusting and readjusting his scope. He called out, "Hey, Creads. Whaddya say we take a walk? Not the killing kind, just the kind that gets the burnt skin taste outta my mouth."  
MacCready shot up like he'd been in a trance. He held his rifle awkwardly and nodded. "Uh, alright." Guy sure did say _uh_ a lot.  
Butch took the nervousness in MacCready's eyes as a signal to link their arms just to see if it'd get him flustered. It did, of course, because the man was all nerves. He was like a spring waiting to burst and smack someone in the eye. Butch pulled him along, out the other end of the bus and away from Eros's fascinations.  
"So, uh, how'd you learn to shoot? You got some good aim," Butch said casually, trying to get the guy to talk.  
"I started when I was ten. Self-taught." It sounded like, in another conversation, he might be boasting, but his tone still held a tension that betrayed him.  
Butch ignored it. "Hey, that's fuckin' cool. Eros taught me to shoot." MacCready looked at him with a furrowed brow. "Ain't any guns in Vaults - 'cept BB guns for assholes with cool parents - so I just knew how to use a knife. Nothin' like Eros, though."  
"What's with him?" Oh, Butch had been waiting on that question. "Why does he act like he knows everything?"  
Butch laughed and loosened his hold on MacCready's elbow enough that he wasn't forcing the guy to walk with him. "Oh, man - he doesn't know _everything_. He's just real good at a few important things. See, when I knew him growing up, we all thought he was weird. Well, like, never-be-alone-with-him kind of weird. Turns out he was practicing fighting, shooting, coding, and some doctor shit with his dad. He doesn't know shit about guns, though. Soon as he taught me to shoot, he didn't touch a gun again for years. He had to, eventually, I mean - obviously, you can't just poke shit till it dies forever. He can't cook, he hates reading, he doesn't like Mirelurks, and he's terrible at acting normal in social-type things. That make ya' feel better?" He chuckled at the way MacCready looked both annoyed and curious.  
"Yeah, I guess that makes sense. But why does he do, uh, you know, all that torture shit?"  
Butch sucked his teeth loudly and glanced back, if only for show, to make sure Eros wasn't following them. "Look, I thought it was freaky at first, too. I dunno - I blame it on his dad teachin' him all about the anatomy and shit. Apparently, he used to do it because he was, uh, _havin' fun_." MacCready shot him a look but Butch pretended not to notice. "Used to say it was somethin' about seeing bad people suffer. Now he's super quiet about it afterward. Has to do with this chick he got close to back in the Pitt; said he knew nothing happened when you died because it would have that day. I dunno - he doesn't like to talk about it."  
"That's worse than just saying he's eccentric," MacCready grumbled. Butch laughed again, patting his pockets for cigarettes.  
"Hey, I'm just being honest. I mean, I'm not all fucked up, right? Don't answer because no, I'm not. I had to do all the fucking talking when it came to going places - he just can't negotiate for shit because he gets so distracted. And, uh, the point is, I love him, so he can't be all that crazy, right?"  
MacCready scoffed, but more in disbelief than rudeness. "Guess so."


	4. Kill Everything

Eros stood in the river, water rushing against his knees as he squeezed blood from the shirt he'd been wearing. The eyes of the blood's former owner were still drifting through MacCready's mind, but Eros looked so calm washing the mayhem away. RJ sat cross-legged on the bank, rifle across his lap, as Butch laid beside him, eyes closed in the heat. There was a moment of total, foreign-feeling peace as Eros dropped the wet shirt across a shoulder and skimmed his fingertips through the moving water.  
Butch broke the silence to speak only loudly enough for RJ to hear, "Those guys really have a contract on you?"  
RJ thought hard, touching his rifle's magazine absent-mindedly. Everyone was gone that wanted his ass dead - maybe he could be honest. He said carefully, "They wanted me dead for leaving and working in their territory.  
So, no, but yes." Butch nodded, not opening his eyes.  
"That makes sense. You don't seem like the type to piss people off enough to have a bounty. So, what - you ran with a gang?" Butch was grinning now at a joke RJ didn't catch.  
RJ cleared his throat and looked to Eros, who was distracted, now, trying to catch something in the water. "Uh, yeah, I guess."  
"Why didn't you fuckin' say that?" Butch demanded, suddenly far more aggressive than MacCready expected. His eyes shot to the man, who was grinning at him with his eyes open. "Shit, we would'a really made a mess if we'd known it was like that. You gotta leave graffiti and mark some bodies up, man! We have to go back - Eros is gonna fuckin' love this."  
Butch started to stand and RJ scrambled to set his rifle aside and move to stop him. "Wait! No - don't-" Butch furrowed his brow and RJ checked that Eros still wasn't looking. "They did horrible shi- things to people. Innocent people. I don't..." He trailed off and Butch narrowed his eyes.  
"What, you think he'll be pissed?" RJ stared back at the light blue eyes laughing at him. Butch laughed loudly enough for Eros to glance over before throwing himself fully into the water. "Holy _shit_ \- you do! Damn, you think he'll skin you, too?"  
RJ wasn't laughing as he watched Eros again - the man was sitting on the floor of the river as water rushed along his sides, just tall enough to avoid the current. Butch sat down again, this time close to RJ's side.  
"Man, we gotta talk, I guess. I hate talkin'. You got the wrong idea, though - Eros wouldn't let a goddamn Bloatfly get a hit on you. Ain't any way he's gonna do it himself," he said as he lit a cigarette.  
"He shouldn't be doing that," MacCready mumbled, changing the subject suddenly when Eros began leaning back to soak his hair. "This isn't the Capital - he's going to get sick."  
Butch laughed through his nose as he took a drag. "You sure are concerned for a guy you think might gut ya'."  
RJ rolled his eyes and landed on Butch. "I just figured if I kept the past dead, I could just keep moving forward and it would be fine."  
"It's gonna be fine either way, man. Besides-" Butch leaned towards RJ's side and swept his arm over his shoulders, pulling him close "-he's got good taste, so I won't let him fuck ya' up too bad." He chuckled and RJ relaxed against his hold.  
Mac looked up at the sky to distract himself from Eros and Butch - it just didn't seem right, somehow, like they were just his imagination. "I guess I just don't see why you guys took me up so suddenly. You haven't even done anything for yourselves since you got to Goodneighbor. Everything they said in the Capital about you guys..." He trailed off.  
Butch grunted, replying passively. "Yeah, well - bad is one thing, but evil is another, totally. We kill the evil, and we're cool doin' it. Doesn't make us heroes for, ya' know, freein' all those slaves and findin' all those lost puppies. So, killin' mercs for a guy like you passes as our work." He pulled RJ back suddenly to lay them side-by-side in the dirt, closing his eyes again. RJ wanted to ask, but saved it. "As for you, we owe ya'. Eros has a real soft spot for sad guys and turns out I got a thing for sharpshooters, so there ya' go."  
RJ felt a weird anxiousness lying completely vulnerable in the wastes while Eros soaked up radiation. "You guys realize, I only let you in because I thought you were funny. I didn't actually _do_ anything."  
He felt Butch shrug and smoke drifted across his otherwise uninterrupted view of an uncomfortably empty sky. "Don't matter why, just that you did. Doesn't matter _why_ Eros and I stay so close, just that we do. And that's the fuckin' point. You let us mess with ya' and hang around you, then you let us help you out when didn't have shit else to do. Plus, you're cute, and everybody's got a thing for that." RJ was fucking red, he knew, but he hoped he could blame it on the sun. He moved to sit up, but Butch wrapped an arm at his side and pulled RJ on top of him as he rose. He had to throw a leg over Butch to keep from landing on him fully, and ended up straddling the man's abdomen. "You ain't goin' anywhere, babe. Now, uh, stop bein' scared of Eros," he said with a laugh.  
MacCready sighed in irritation; "I'm not _scared_ of him, godda- _ugh_ , I mean, I'm not scared of him or anyone else."  
"Now," Butch added rudely, his eyes still shut. Before RJ could argue, he added, "Hey, how 'bout I fill you in on him sometime. Maybe calm ya' down a little."  
He was _calm_ \- how the fuck was he not calm? He had to take a moment to remember how the teenagers in Lamplight would provoke each other with name-calling in the same way just to fight. He decided to play along. "Yeah, well - maybe if you two weren't literally throwing yourself at bullets, I could find a reason to be calm."  
Butch scoffed. "We're _seasoned_ killers, Cready-baby. The bullets know better than to hit us."  
"That's probably the dumbest thing I've ever heard," RJ said with a flat-palmed smack against Butch's chest.  
Butch's voice came as a bark, suddenly, "Eros! He fucking called me stupid!"  
There was a splashing of water and RJ shouted, "I said your words were dumb, assho-!"  
The water soaked in almost immediately as Eros's arms appeared around his chest and pulled him up easily. Eros was at his ear in a moment; "RJ - come swim with me."  
Butch ignored the demand and said, "You wouldn't ever hurt Cready, right?"  
"Fuck no," Eros answered easily. "What the fuck-"  
"Well, Erry baby, RJ used to be in a gang and-"  
MacCready wrestled away from Eros, the water soaking through his duster with a tingling of radiation. He interrupted quickly, "Shut the hell up! I can talk for myself."  
Eros grabbed his hand to pull him back and nuzzled against his neck and RJ felt a blush at his overreaction. Butch was smirking, eyes still shut. Eros murmured, "Then talk. Why didn't you tell me? That's so cool. Did you harass the elderly or did you just commit some vandalism?"  
MacCready couldn't tell if he was joking - he'd never even heard of a 'gang' that committed itself to such trivial crap. He'd already decided to be honest - he just had to remember that Duncan would be okay no matter what mess RJ was left in. "They killed innocent people... So I left."  
Eros answered softly, "Oh, I get it." He grabbed MacCready by the shoulders and twisted him around to face him. "You think I'll blame you for some real nasty shit they did, then-" RJ tensed as Eros dragged a finger up his chest to his jaw, grasping him tightly to keep their eyes locked "-I'll cut you up and hear those pretty screams." Before RJ could react, a teasing grin spread on the other man's lips. "I ain't ever gonna hurt you, babe. I like how you sound screaming - I wouldn't end that." He laughed and dropped his hands from RJ suddenly, watching him for a response.  
Butch interrupted, "See? Nothin' to worry about."  
Eros pressed a palm flat to RJ's chest like he was feeling the heartbeat rushing too hard. "I like seeing under peoples' skin. I like seeing bad people drain completely on the ground. You're not a bad person, RJ, and I'm well-fuckin'-aware of that. Those guys we saw back in the bar - they were part of that gang, right? Well, you made it clear you weren't with them anymore, and they wanted to kill you. It pretty much qualifies you as a good guy if the evil gang wants you dead."  
"Only because I was working in their territory," MacCready offered in a small voice.  
The hand at his chest shot up to slap his shoulder. "Even better! Take their jobs, then their lives! Shit, I wish I would'a known. Gang shit is fun."  
"Told you," Butch repeated behind him. 

 

Eros was watching him too closely for RJ to feel comfortable. They'd finally been convinced to just go back to Goodneighbor rather than turning back to deface the Gunner post. While he appreciated the thought of a scout spreading a story about the horror left behind, knowing the men who could find him were dead was enough. It was all over, apparently, and now they sat in the Third Rail on couches by Magnolia's stage and Eros wouldn't look away. MacCready was turning red from the awkward attention and he knew it.  
Butch swung by, suddenly, an arm at a strange woman's waist. "Don't wait up, huh?" he said smoothly, running a hand across MacCready's shoulders as they passed by. He kept his eyes away from Eros's to watch the woman's hips sway against Butch's touch as they climbed the stairs and he whispered something that made her giggle. _That was weird._  
Eros finally spoke. "Why are you so nervous around me?"  
RJ tipped his head back against the couch and risked staring back at the amber eyes on him. "Not nervous - just not comfortable, I guess."  
Eros scoffed, seemingly offended. "Why not?"  
RJ shrugged. "That girl with Butch isn't getting attached so..." He trailed off to watch Magnolia step onto her stage but Eros's curious expression pulled him back. "It's fun, I guess, but I just wonder when you guys'll just move on again."  
"Move on from what? You?" Eros was visibly confused and it made MacCready's neck itch with discomfort. Why was this so hard?  
He stretched his back to give himself a moment to think before responding. "I mean, this is the second time Butch has taken a girl out of here, and that's just what I've seen. You guys just... go around and move on, right?"  
Eros looked thoughtful and took a sip of MacCready's beer that sat on the table between them. "Right. But wrong. We haven't actually sat down and, you know, talked about this shit. I guess it's the least we owe you." Their eyes met again and RJ felt caught as a rare seriousness overtook the usual-grin on Eros's face. "We- yeah, we sleep around. It's fun. Butch likes chicks, too, and they can be fun, but- whatever, I digress." He laughed and looked nervous - MacCready felt a strange reassurance seeing Eros falter. "This isn't like that, if you're interested. See, it started out real casual, but then I got stuck on you. I don't want to move on from you. Neither does Butch, now. We both, you know-" He cleared his throat and RJ realized he was grinding his teeth as he listened. "We want to keep you around."  
There was a heaviness in RJ's chest as Eros confessed or explained or whatever the conversation had become. It was like excitement, but horrifying. He was asking him to _join_ them like it was a club - as though a relationship could just be wedged into another. But he wasn't scared off, either. He'd stuck around the whole time rather than just leaving like he'd planned. He could have been preparing to head out with the caravan and never come back, but he was staring back at Eros and feeling a surge of confusing happiness.  
Maybe it was how carefree Eros was that kept him watching. It was disgustingly beautiful how little he cared about the dying world around him. It was also the man himself - he had strength and it was obvious when he'd flex to move and the leather of his jacket stretched taut, and the glitter of his eyes when he was happy made RJ's heart stop. He spoke like rain and his touch was like Psycho and it just made MacCready want to shake him. Butch, on the other hand, was confident and headstrong with the aim to back it up, and his too-blunt words had gotten MacCready hot in moments. He was loud and boisterous and used to be annoying until MacCready saw proof of why he was so confident. Whatever it was that they had that made him interested, it was enough to make him nod.  
Eros's eyes lit up. "Yes? Like, you'll stick around?" It was strangely satisfying knowing the man was excited over him. He was just a random merc with no future being fawned over by the guy who purified the Capital. It didn't have to be weird - there weren't rules or anyone to enforce them beyond the idiots ballsy enough to question others at the risk of being shot. If he was being honest, no one would give a shit if he was fucking eight people and they all lived in a rad swamp. But it was something deeper than worrying about people judging him.  
Somehow, it cheapened the _relationship_ or whatever if it wasn't just two people totally devoted to each other. It was scary - he could be abandoned any moment if they decided to be exclusive again. He'd already promised that kind of trust to Lucy without a second thought, yet now he had just agreed to _something_ that seemed to spit in the face of every marriage that had ever existed. Eros didn't seem bothered by it, and Butch was balls-deep in not-giving-a-shit.  
But he had missed things they gave him freely. He hadn't had real friends - people to laugh with and fuck around with - since he'd been in the Capital, and, even then, most of them were from Lamplight. He hadn't woken up beside another person without it turning into an uncomfortable morning in years, though now it turned out to be two bodies smothering him. No one had ever, though, willingly given up their time and risked their lives just because a problem was his.  
They weren't dicks about it, either, which only muddied shit more. The men were willing to listen to anything - though Eros was the only one who'd focus. It had taken nearly an hour to keep Eros from heading back to the Mass Pike Interchange just because it had piqued his interest.  
It was exactly what he needed, MacCready was realizing. They made him feel normal and _right_ \- he was more himself than he'd been in years and nothing hovered over him. Duncan was where the men came from - he doubted it would take much convincing to get them to take him back to the Capital. Maybe permanently. There was satisfaction, companionship, and security all combined in Eros's offer, and RJ wanted it.  
"Y-yeah. Okay. I don't get it, but you guys are fun."  
"Super fun," Eros added with a smirk, taking the last of the beer RJ had hardly touched.

 

The Diamond City Marketplace was awful. It was completely open to the sun's heat, it smelled like humans and garbage, and it was generally unfriendly. Eros was bored, tapping his fingers on the counter of the Japanese robot's noodle stand, watching his partners speak with an arms dealer about some bullshit he couldn't bother with. They were excited about mods on some barrels or something about muzzles and he'd zoned out. Someone nearby caught his eye, however, and Eros looked straight to a random waster standing by Fallon's.  
The waster was reading a newspaper that looked printed, likely the weird Boston Bugle thing that read like a teenager's shitty diary. The guy looked familiar. He was entirely unimposing, seeming to melt into the background with the rust and metal. Eros snapped his fingers and headed towards the man, who seemed not to notice. He slid up beside the guy and cleared his throat without subtlety, wanting attention.  
"Uh, yeah?" the waster asked in an irritated tone.  
"I know you from somewhere," Eros replied easily, staring unabashedly at the man. "You ever been to the Capital?"  
"Capital of what?"  
Eros grinned. "Okay, okay - do I know you from Goodneighbor? Bunker Hill? I don't remember that place too well, so forgive me for any transgressions." The man's expression never changed and Eros felt a surge of curiosity. People either got angry, annoyed, or interested. No one ignored him. He pressed on, "Paradise Falls? Megaton? Rivet City? What about Minefield? Only met one guy there, but you might'a been there."  
"Look," the waster interrupted with a scowl, "I'm tryin' to read. I don't know you, so just fuck off, huh?"  
Eros stared hard, holding his grin. "Did we fuck? You seem real pissy."  
The guy grumbled and lifted from the wall where he leaned, folding the newspaper with a hint of annoyance. Something was weird about him - there were always people who didn't want to listen, but open annoyance was rare when everyone carried weapons. He started towards the entrance of Diamond City and Eros followed behind closely. Eros kept talking, "I know I know you from somewhere. Come on - I'm a hard guy to forget."  
"I'll say," the man muttered. They reached the beginning of the metal ramp leading to the entrance when Eros pressed two extended fingers to the man's back and stopped him short. The guy thought it was a gun, just as Eros had hoped, and he could see the tension rise along the man's body.  
Eros spoke in a heavy tone, hoping he exuded some kind of intimidation. "Who the fuck are you?"  
The man didn't respond correctly. A normal person would be, well _normal_ and freak out or just start screaming for help. Instead, the man just froze and muttered, "Follow the Freedom Trail, brother."  
Eros knew it was supposed to be some Big Deal thing. It was probably some kind of myth that floated around the Commonwealth and made little kids perk up. But he wasn't local - Eros grunted, "Be specific, sweetheart."  
The guy was obviously perturbed, but Eros was beginning to wonder how much of his facade was legitimate. The man repeated, "Follow the Freedom Trail. Ask around - people know."  
Eros rolled his eyes and nudged his hand - his pretend gun - against the man's spine. He had muscles built around his lower back, a rare quality in a waster. He had to be a fighter of some kind, or at least someone obsessed with their own strength. He couldn't be a waster nobody - he _knew_ he'd seen the fucker's face before. "Let's say I'm not a people-person. Help me out some more, huh?" The man stayed silent a moment too long and Eros added, "It only takes a bit of pressure between spinal columns to permanently rupture their connection, you know. One shot and you're crawling your ass around the market begging for change."  
The man wore a straight-face well, but Eros could see the tension in the muscles of his neck and felt it along his spine. He said shortly, "Just look for a red line on the ground. It's near Goodneighbor. Can I fucking go, now? My brahmin won't feed itself."  
Eros chuckled and pulled his hand away, letting the man look back at him before Eros blew across his fingertips, imitating the assholes he'd seen in comics who blew smoke from their gun. The man looked pissed, realizing he'd been "held up" by Eros's fingers and not the pistol he'd probably imagined. Eros winked smoothly before turning on his heel, ignoring all instincts that told him not to bare his back to a potential enemy. It was a dominance display, making the point that Eros thought nothing of the man. He feared nothing and pretended his fingers were a gun to make people talk. The man stayed silent as he left, and Eros was beaming by the time he reached Butch and MacCready, who'd apparently found some stupid brick to attach to a gun to make it shoot harder.  
Eros hated guns. They were cheat tools, just like meat grinders and landmines. The man had been a perfect example for why he thought so. If the man had known Eros used knives, and if Eros had used a knife, he would've had a chance - he could have ducked away or been badass enough to get stabbed and walk it off. With a gun, though, the man crumbled in seconds thinking his spine would burst. It was boring. It was easy. Guns were for quick jobs that held no value. Knives and his own fists were Eros's preference - he wanted to feel death, knowing it was at his fingertips but never touched him back.  
MacCready looked up with a rare glimmer in his eye and Eros would have sworn his heart stopped. The fucker was so gorgeous - even when he was just talking about some random piece of metal to stick to his rifle, he exuded passion and genuine joy. It was so fucking rare, Eros felt like he was consuming some delicacy. He had to grin when RJ's lips turned to a smile as he came near - then Butch turned his head and Eros nearly collapsed beneath the weight of their eyes. He kept a smooth tone and greeted them, "Hey boys. Got some, uh, metal shit, I see. Pretty cool. Does that, you know, go on the, uh, front of a gun?"  
MacCready laughed and it sounded so sweet, Eros nearly took the man in his arms right there. "Yeah, kind of. It's a recon scope."  
Butch added with a shitty smile, "So you can be even further away from getting shot, Eros."  
Eros smirked and shrugged. "Yeah, I guess if you're into that kind of thing. Hey, did you guys see that weird guy leaving?" They shook their heads and continued on talking about the scope - something about surface tension or some shit - while Eros stopped listening. It wasn't that he didn't care, he just didn't want to - they could have their gun thing and do whatever gun-nuts did in bed. Fucked ammo cartridges, probably.  
He was staring somewhere off in the Stands when Butch shoved him suddenly. "Oh shit! I totally forgot. We got this fuckin' thing for you, Creads." MacCready looked small holding the scope with a curious look, his slender fingers running along divets in the metal.  
"Wha-? No, this is enough, really. I didn't-"  
Butch looked offended as he slung his pack from his shoulder to the ground, making Eros perk a smile. "I'm already in the middle of grabbin' it, so keep your pants on, sweetheart." Butch searched the pack and pulled out a Pip-Boy that clacked with an unhooked brace. MacCready's eyes widened slightly, looking surprised and confused. "Alright, here. Part one."  
Butch handed it over and watched RJ fumble with the scope, shoving it into a pocket so he could hold the Pip-Boy awkwardly. "I, uh- wow. A Pip-Boy? How the heck did you even get another one?" He glanced between Butch and Eros, considering the Pip-Boys they wore. "It looks different."  
Eros stepped closer and pulled the computer from his hands and took RJ's left arm, extending it to shove the man's sleeve up to his elbow so he could position it and snap the brace shut. MacCready let him, entirely, and it was a confidence boost seeing the sweet blue eyes resigning to him. "We found it on our way to Goodneighbor. We ended up too-far north and came by this crazy Vault with an elevator entrance - never seen shit like that in my life. A ghoul was wearing it, so, that might be weird, but it should work fine. It's a late-prototype for the nicer Vaults - we got 2000's and that sweet-ass thing is a 3000." He released MacCready's arm and the sniper tested the new weight on his wrist and the material of the glove Butch shoved into his hand.  
Butch sighed and popped the holotape in his own Pip-Boy out, holding it gingerly. "I don't think I've taken this thing outta here in years. Here," he said, holding the holotape out as MacCready flexed his fingers inside the glove.  
"What is it?"  
Eros grinned. "Kill Everything." MacCready stared at him. "Go on - try it." The man slid the tape in, a look of concern on his face that made Eros snicker. Butch had an odd expression, both thoughtful and focused - two things he rarely was. On RJ's wrist, a beep sounded and the logo popped up, giant green letters reading Kill Everything in a cursive font. MacCready looked closer, suddenly interested, and the screen flashed to a paragraph of instructions. Butch and Eros shared a look as the merc started reading. "He's really the bridge between us," Eros commented.  
"Give a guy a book and he actually fuckin' reads it," Butch snorted. MacCready ignored them and kept a hard look in his eyes as he read.  
"So, you kill stuff. Uh, everything, I'm assuming," he said with a smile that made Eros cringe in happiness. The fucker was just so cute and he looked so genuine. "Where'd you guys get this?"  
Butch answered quickly, "Eros made it."  
RJ looked unsure. "Uh, made it? Like...?"  
The two could only hold conversations about guns and _recon scopes_ , it seemed, and Eros rolled his eyes as he decided to speed the conversation up. "I started writing it when I was, I don't know, fourteen, maybe. It took a few years, but I got a playable version done for Butch and I updated it pretty regularly for a few years. Dunno what to add, anymore, so I guess it's done. Try it."  
Eros slid an arm around RJ's shoulders to guide him as the man started the game. Butch stood beside them to watch the pixels dance in a show of terrible gore and followed quietly as Eros led them towards the entrance to the city. It was still midday, so they had a chance to make it somewhere nicer before dark, and Eros was getting fucking hives from the atmosphere of Diamond City. In minutes, RJ was absolutely gone, focused on the enemies appearing and disappearing as points added up and small messages appeared describing their deaths. Eros had put years of time into the code and remembered having an image of Butch enraptured by the game with every word and line he wrote. The effect on RJ was no different and he was grinning by the time they reached the gate.  
He read a message out loud, his voice amused and soft, " _The Vaultie was no match for your massive rain of death. It looks similar to stepping on a sweet roll when their blood literally bursts from them._ Oh my God, what?" He laughed and Butch pressed a kiss to his neck, causing a blush to rise along RJ's jaw.  
"Hope you like it, babe," Eros whispered, making the man blush harder. It was too cute, as always, and Eros wanted to just tear him apart for the fun of catching him off-guard.  
He took a moment to respond, seeming to come to terms with life as it was. "Thanks. Seriously, this is insane - I never- I don't know. This is so crazy."  
Butch and RJ were too lost in the game to ask where Eros was taking them. He had to find a red line on the ground, and they'd probably just have a thousand more questions if he told them that. For now, they could be willing victim's of his time-wasting masterpiece. 

 

"Hey, isn't this the Common?" MacCready was whispering, his voice tense, and Eros raised an eyebrow at him. Butch and RJ had been happy to follow along blindly - until now, apparently - and Eros had been searching fucking everywhere for some "red line" on the ground. He'd finally seen it, right on the other side of the large openspace MacCready was calling _The Common_ \- which just didn't leave Eros with the kind of chills he'd hoped for.  
"It's not great, yeah, but 'common' seems a little rude. So, what - it's some kind of horrible mythical place and we'll find a pile of charred bodies and people parts everywhere?" Eros leaned against the corner of a building facing the Common, looking for anything that could be interesting.  
Butch snorted, and added, "Dragons, man."  
"It's just dangerous - jeez," he huffed, making Eros laugh quietly.  
"Yo, I got that, babe. But, see, I need that red line over there, and I really ain't one to backtrack for the sake of safety." Eros moved as soon as he finished speaking and was already several yards into the open square before MacCready even moved to stop him. He was able to move silently, seeming to run on his toes between clear patches of street, and MacCready was trying to figure out a way to follow when Butch sighed.  
"Bastard ain't ever heard of patience. Yo, he tell you anything about a red line?"  
RJ shook his head and rubbed his forehead in irritation. Eros had reached whatever he'd come for and the men still hiding watched in horror as he turned, waved, and shouted, "It's okay, it's just a fucking robot!" A growling sound rose from the center of the square while movement appeared behind Eros, down an alley. He lowered his arm and grinned before turning on his heel to run in what seemed to be a random direction, further away from MacCready and Butch. Butch cursed and grabbed for his gun, watching the alleyway far off. He really was the calmer of the two, and RJ was grateful for the balance he provided, and especially when RJ was left totally confused. Even if Eros decided to throw himself into a minefield, at least RJ wouldn't be alone in being irritated.  
Eros was gone and the growling hit its apex, erupting into a roar that made RJ's jaw clench. Butch's arm appeared around him to pull him back from the edge of the building. He was suddenly enveloped in warm darkness as Butch pushed him to the wall and pulled RJ's head against his chest. There was splashing like a tree falling into a river and shouting further off, followed by a shrill scream and pounding. MacCready moved into the warmth of Butch's chest, imagining himself being ripped apart by whatever Thing Eros had woken up.  
Meat tearing - he heard it, too close but far enough away that Butch still held them there. There was more shouting, then guns firing, underscored by an endless grunting and roaring that sounded somehow bigger than a Deathclaw. RJ nearly jumped when Butch whispered, "I'm gonna flay that fucker. Just stay down."  
MacCready counted at least seven human voices that shouted commands and threats, cursing as the monster-thing crushed something wooden and RJ cringed. Suddenly, Eros's voice sounded and he felt Butch tense; "You're just some fucking FEV bullshit!"  
There was an explosion followed by gunfire and RJ felt the faint touch of Butch pressing his cheek into his hat, sort-of nuzzling, but too stressed to be sweet. Butch started mumbling, likely distracting himself from the situation Eros put himself into with no regard. "I'm gonna make him eat dirt, maybe. Yeah, like, I'll give him some real good food and pour dirt on it. _Ugh_ , nah I couldn't do that. Maybe I'll just revisit knife play. Fuck, he's so stupid."  
RJ inhaled the scent of Butch's chest, a combination of the regular wasteland bitterness mixed with the deep smell of... _him_. It was like the metal of a firearm and something almost sweet - Hubflower?  
He was distracting himself just as Butch was, trying to ignore the obvious danger just around the corner, trying to trust Eros. The fucker shouted again, "Eat my ass, you green fuck!" Another explosion sounded followed by a gutteral shout, too deep and large to be Eros. He was laughing, now, moving quickly as the giant broke more wood and cried out in anger. It had to be a Super Mutant, MacCready figured, but there was no way Eros was trying to fight a Behemoth on his own. He'd run from a feral. He wouldn't stand up to a Behemoth with a knife...  
Butch seemed to have the same thought and his grip on RJ's sides tightened, pulling his eyes deeper against the man's chest. He muttered, "Shoot BB's at his ass whenever he falls asleep, maybe. Tie him to a fuckin' fire hydrant." RJ raised his arms, finally, to wrap them at Butch's waist, pulling him closer to shut Butch up - for his own sake.  
Another explosion shook the air and Eros's laughter was closer, causing RJ to pull from the sweet darkness to see Eros running towards them. He was grinning, of course, and slowed as he came close, panting. "I did it. I freed the robot."  
Butch unwrapped himself from MacCready to fly towards Eros, pulling the man into a chokehold as he shouted, "You couldn't warn us first, asshole?"  
Eros choked lightly, face reddening as he smiled at RJ. "Hey, I did it myself, and you guys are fine!"  
Butch jostled him threateningly, growling, "And what if we weren't, huh?"  
"I'd kill myself," Eros answered easily.  
Butch huffed and released him, shaking his head. "Cready's gonna put dirt in your food."  
Both men looked straight at RJ and he raised his eyebrows and shrugged. "Yeah. I am."  
Butch grinned and Eros scoffed, "I think I've had dirtier stuff than that in my mouth." He snorted at his own joke and started to leave. "Let's check out this robot dude. He's super cute."  
They followed gingerly and MacCready made a point to keep his rifle ready. The thing Eros had been provoking was dead at the edge of the pond, large sections of it missing where the grenades Eros had been throwing had torn it apart. It was like a Super Mutant, but larger and more gnarled than any he'd seen. Farther off, the bodies of what looked to be raiders lay torn and scorched. RJ smirked and said, "Hey, look - scorched bodies and pieces of people."  
Butch swung around to stare at the giant mutant's body and gasped, "Ah, shit, man - it's a dragon!"  
Eros laughed but was preoccupied with the robot talking to no one several yards away. He ran up to it and grinned like a child. "You're free, buddy! So, uh, shut the fuck up. Wait, no, where are you going?" 

 

Maybe in another life, MacCready would never have seen the kind of shit Eros did in a fight. RJ grew up with average people - some were good in a fight and maybe had some tricks, while others hid. Eros fit neither category and acted like he'd never even heard of mortality. He'd wrestled a feral, letting it gouge a nasty-looking mark in his side, before he made it eat his boot until its jaw snapped and he stomped its skull into the dirt. He'd also played as a distraction for Super Mutants while Butch and MacCready tried to take them down before they caught him, tossed a grenade into a nest of sleeping ferals they could have otherwise avoided, and now was holding the jaw of a mutated dog as it tried to gnaw at his face. He was on his back as the dog stood over him, drooling over Eros's fingers as he leveraged its head away from his. Butch had his arms crossed and RJ was at a loss.  
"No. You get yourself outta this. You've done it, man. I'm pissed. You ain't gonna get a single bullet outta me," Butch said with a feisty tone as he looked away.  
Eros grunted as the dog jarred against his grip, but laughed anyway. "Aw babe - you know you had fun," he chided. RJ knew he'd be fine. It didn't take long to realize that, somehow, Eros was always fine. Maybe he was more calculated than he appeared, or maybe he just relied on the luck he knew he had, but, either way, if Butch didn't seem bothered, RJ wouldn't be.  
Butch scoffed, "I don't even know why we left Diamond City, man! They had noodles and bats. Come on!"  
Eros moved in an instant, planting his knife directly into the dog's skull like he'd been playing with it the entire time. It whimpered shortly before dropping and he slid out from beneath it to move to Butch. "It's about adventure, babe. We can't just eat noodles and buy bats all day."  
"Couldn't we do it for just, like, one day?" Butch complained.  
RJ looked away, feeling isolated from them, suddenly, and asked, "This is the Old North Church. Why'd you want to come here?"  
Eros perked up and stepped towards the statue in the courtyard of the church to rub a hand along the base. "I have no fucking idea. Let's go inside."  
"How did you get this information, again?" MacCready asked carefully, narrowing his eyes at Eros before glancing back out at their surroundings.  
"That weird guy you said you didn't see in Diamond City - he told me to find the red line," Eros said with a shrug. He threw an arm out to smack Butch's side as he went for his cigarettes. "Give me one, gorgeous. I'm starving." Butch made a face and laughed, handing him a crumpled cigarette, earning a kiss on his fingers from Eros.  
RJ tried not to look bothered, but they were in raider territory if they took a few steps north and ferals crawled everywhere in-between. "Okay, so a weird guy told you to find a bunch of ancient bricks and it took us to an empty building. Cool," he mumbled.  
"We don't know that it's empty," Eros argued as he lit the cigarette.  
"Empty of anything friendly, probably," Butch muttered. "What'd the guy look like?"  
Eros tilted his chin thoughtfully, letting the smoke from his cherry plume beneath his nose and over his cheeks. "He didn't really look like anything," he answered. "Just a guy. Now let's shut the fuck up and go inside, huh?"  
Butch glared at him. "I just fucking started this thing."  
"So smoke and shoot, ya' fuckin' commie," Eros retorted with a smile, pulling the filter from his lips to stick his cigarette into his ear. MacCready let a laugh slip as it tilted and smoke billowed across his hair. "See, RJ knows."  
He started off without concern and Butch took an extra-long drag, the paper blistering as he burned it quickly, tossing it to the ground. He pulled his pistol from his leg holster and winked as he passed RJ to let him flank. "Come on, Cready - let's see what fuckin' magic awaits."  
Inside the church, the interior had collapsed and rows of benches glowed against the dim sunlight breaking in through the ceiling. Ghoul corpses were scattered throughout the debris and RJ was hesitant to follow. Eros clapped softly and said, "Ah, perfect. An empty building. There must be some hidden entrance--oh! There's a door!"  
Growling rose around them and several ferals began to move, stirred by his noise. Eros didn't pause to look back as he jogged to the open doorway across the room and Butch raised his weapon lazily, counting off headshots on the twitching, moving targets. RJ had to appreciate the nonchalant accuracy Butch displayed - they'd been in the wastes for at least four years longer than him, but he doubted it was just time that had made them skilled. Butch looked completely desensitized, far different than he'd looked when RJ had met the two. Unlike Eros, who'd already mastered the art of looked unaffected, Butch had been excitable and reckless - really, more like Eros was now. He was suddenly interested in hearing what they'd done, even if just to find out how they'd changed so drastically.  
He didn't even need to touch his rifle before the ferals were cleared and they followed Eros, who had already disappeared. They found him staring around a stone hallway that reeked of decay, crouched over another feral with his knife twirling into an open wound he'd made in its gut. Another wound on its skull proved that Eros was 'playing' with the body, now, having stabbed it when it probably jumped out and scared him. The man only went for the skull when he wanted something gone. He ran a finger across his lower lip as they approached and said, "Lots of ferals at the end of this red line. I wonder if he just wanted to kill me off."  
"You for real, Erry? I'm gonna goddamn skin you. You bring us all the way to Old Fuck Church whatever and you're telling us it's because you pissed someone off?" Butch threatened with a smile. Eros returned it and pulled the lightly-burning cigarette from his ear, pressing it between his lips as he stood.  
"I'd like to see you try," Eros laughed, turning to walk further into the dimly lit tunnel. He twisted around a corner and out of sight with a flourish and Butch moved closer to RJ.  
"This is boring. I'm just gonna-" Butch slid an arm around MacCready's waist and pulled them close, side-by-side. His hand drifted down and grasped at RJ's ass, causing him to laugh. Before he could properly complain about the timing, Butch turned him and pressed him to the wall, their faces close. He was smirking - he always did when he'd start messing with RJ, and the sniper had to admit it was irritatingly sexy.  
Their mouths were touching in an instant. Butch pressed lightly, ghosting his lips across RJ's and one hand moved to his crotch while the other stayed gripping his ass firmly. RJ laughed again, this time in a nervous excitement. This had to be the worst place to start touching. Butch responded with a smile against his lips and moved closer, pinning RJ to the wall as he kissed him hard. A movement of his jaw encouraged RJ to part his lips and Butch took the opportunity to delve his tongue into RJ's mouth, darting beneath his tongue and across the top of his mouth. Blood rushed and he was already hard from the touches, a soft groan between them motivating Butch. His palm flattened against RJ's growing erection and he tilted his head further to push RJ's head to the wall. MacCready groaned breathily again and Butch pulled away, mouth open to string saliva between them. RJ was blushing at the blatancy. "God, you really are responsive. Hey, you know, I gotta ask-" His hand slid over the buckles of RJ's belts to pull them open and his fingers slid into the top of RJ's pants.  
He barely skimmed the base of RJ's cock when they were interrupted by Eros shouting, "There's a circle thing!" He appeared around the corner and stopped short, giggling as he caught them. "Oh, shit - that's a pretty picture. I think I found a puzzle thing, so, uh, you two just keep doin' that." He waved a hand at them and disappeared again.  
Butch chuckled darkly and murmured, "I just realized that ghoul's still there." RJ's eyes shot to the floor behind Butch and met directly with the sunken black gaze of the feral Eros had been over. He shivered and pushed Butch back.  
"Fu- _ugh_ , that's a mood-killer."  
Eros interrupted again, shouting from down the tunnel as a rough scraping started, "Hey, I did it!" Butch growled in irritation and pecked a kiss to RJ's lips before following the screeching sound. MacCready glared at the feral. Eros was standing before a dark opening with what RJ would have sworn was nervousness on his expression.  
Butch raised an eyebrow and peeked around the corner. " _Oh_ -kay, wow. I'm not going in there," he said with a glance at RJ.  
Eros laughed haltingly, trying to retain his calm facade; "Can't ever learn if we don't experience, huh?" He'd said it before, randomly before running into shit, and RJ saw it as a mantra to make him keep up the persona he'd built over the years. He wanted to break it down, now - see what Butch knew was hiding beneath the endless 'jokes,' violence, and innuendo. Eros took a step forward before his confidence returned and he walked straight into the darkness.  
Blinding lights sent RJ wincing away and Eros cursed loudly. Beside him, Butch was getting tense again and his arm wrapped at RJ' s waist. A woman's voice commanded, "Stop right there. Who the hell are you people?"  
RJ was able to see again and he saw Eros standing in front of a small group of people, rubbing his eyes dramatically. Butch gripped his fingers against MacCready's hip. Eros responded to the woman with a shitty tone, "Oh, fuck me - I don't even know now because you scorched my goddamn frontal lobe with that. What the hell are you people doing blinding strangers?" His voice was accusatory and made the woman pause as if she hadn't expected the reaction. He continued, "For fuck's sake, lady - you could have just jumped out from a corner or used - I don't know - smoke?"  
A woman standing at the leader's side laughed as she held a minigun pointed towards him. The leader was unimpressed and demanded, "Answer my question. Who are you people?"  
Eros smiled charmingly, dropping any notion of annoyance, and replied, "Eros, ma'am. Those two are my partners and stay uninvolved until I know who you all are. Got it?" The last words were directed to Butch and RJ. Eros's voice was oddly even and RJ realized he was in the middle of one of their silent conversations again as Butch tilted his head down with a glare and Eros smirked just enough to bare a sliver of teeth. Butch pulled RJ lightly and they moved out of the doorway to stay out of sight.  
RJ asked lowly, "The hell was that? We're just leaving him there?"  
Butch just shrugged and leaned his back to the wall, sliding down it to sit hard. "I talk to the normal people - ya' know, the one you can intimidate or butter up. Eros deals with the unknowns 'cause most of 'em are crazy and he knows how to talk to the real nutty fuckers."  
Beyond the doorway, Eros faced the leader of the small group with a hard stare. She was unmoved by his stare and continued interrogating him. "We'll see about your partners once we've gotten to how you got here. Who sent you?" She looked pissed and it piqued Eros's curiosity - he'd found some kind of protected place.  
Eros laughed to tease her for her seriousness. "I wouldn't say he _sent_ me here, but some guy told me to follow the Freedom something and it turned out to be this red line thing."  
" _Some guy_ ," she repeated in irritation. "And I'm supposed to believe that you just guessed the code on the door?"  
Eros pursed his lips thoughtfully and winked at her. "Average people put their passwords in close reach. You wouldn't believe how many diaries I've read knowing that. I figured I'd try the words on the door first, then some adjectives and shit about the area, but you guys went straight-up basic."  
The woman looked offended and started to snap at him when a man turned a corner behind her and put a hand on her shoulder. His voice was familiar as he said, "Hey, uh, Des - might wanna let me handle this."  
Eros threw his arm up to point at the man, grinning. "Weird guy! Man, I fuckin' knew you had some shady shit going on!"  
The woman, Des, scoffed loudly and glared at the man, demanding, "What do you mean, 'let you handle this?' You know this man?"  
The man chuckled shortly and pulled his hand back to cross his arms. "This is the guy from the Capital - the one I tried recruiting."  
Eros furrowed his brow. "'Ey not to be rude, but you never did any recruiting with all that horror and thatyou were gonna die."  
The woman with the minigun laughed again and finally spoke, her voice dry and sweet, "You were scared of this guy, Deac?"  
He shook his head and gave a vague half-smile at Eros. "Nah, back in the Capital itself. He and his boyfriend were drunk as shit and I suggested real helpfully that they take a little trip north to free the synths."  
Des looked straight at Eros and looked a mite calmer. "So, you're the one who fixed the purifier. Deacon told us you were involved with the Railroad once before and protected a synth from being reclaimed. Is that true?"  
Eros but his lip thoughtfully. "Oh, a synth I freed? There were a couple, but I don't-"  
Deacon interrupted smoothly, "Chief Harkness, man."  
Eros clapped in realization and whistled. "Oh, you mean that lady that yelled at me about synths and super-vaguely suggested I go fuck myself if I turned Hark in? Shit, I loved that guy - such a prick."  
Des redirected the conversation, "More to the point, you have what technically counts as a history of fighting the Institute, and your previous successes in the Capital mean that you could be the key to taking them down."  
"Oh, cool - I can be the _Chosen One_ again," Eros muttered. "So that's what you guys do? You fight the, uh, evil scientists?"  
Deacon breathed a laugh and stepped down from the raised level to slap a hand to Eros's shoulder. "That's right, man. But we gotta talk first."  
Des was glaring at the back of his head and Eros replied without the sweetness he tried to use with strangers, "I need proof of your legitimacy before anything. I don't take this aligning shit lightly. Why should I stay, and how do I know my guys are going to be fine around you?"  
Deacon raised an eyebrow and teased, " _Guys_ in the plural now, huh? You collecting 'em?"  
Eros tipped his chin and smiled darkly. "Matter of fact, I am, so watch your ass, Spy-Boy."  
Des groaned and interrupted, "Fine. Have your secret conversations, but know this: you are not, by any means, allowed into headquarters yet, and never breathe a word of this meeting or we'll find you."  
"Jeez, Des - don't lay on the charm too strong or you'll scare him off," Deacon said with a biting smile. She turned and left beyond the threshold Deacon had come through and the minigun woman and man who never spoke followed along. Eros scoffed as they disappeared and looked to Deacon.  
"So, where's the proof, Bishop?" he asked with his eyebrows raised.  
Deacon chuckled again. "Alright, so you're smart enough to pretend to get Deacon and Bishop confused, but are you smart enough to know that the business of fighting a shadowy evil in secret doesn't leave much evidence behind? What do you want as proof?"  
Eros rolled his eyes to the ceiling and looked thoughtful for a moment. "I don't know - tell me something that makes sense."  
Deacon seemed ready for the question and nodded. "Alright - two birds with one stone. I hit up the Capital a little while back. See, I lived there a long time and I got a real good look at some of the stuff you did to the people you didn't like. I figured we could use guys like you and Butch, and now you've got Mister Gunner MacCready with you - it's like the Holy Trinity came to make all our dreams come true."  
"Isn't that a fairy or somethin', not the three incarnations of God?" Eros teased, smiling.  
"Isn't that what they thought He did? It was either that or something about leading a horse to fish and he'll learn to eat forever."  
Eros laughed openly and retorted, "No, no, man - that was Freud."  
Deacon was some kind of egotistical and Eros could nearly smell it from how the guy radiated his confidence. Every big word and vague reference was a test. He laughed at Eros's response and nodded to himself. "So, the Big Bad Capital Boogeyman knows his ancient texts. So, that proof or whatever?"  
"Oh," Eros said lamely, "right. Whatever. So, Des says I don't get to come in - how am I supposed to help?"  
"Back when we decided to recruit you, Des decided to test you by sending you to a stupid tourist locale. I obviously knew that wouldn't fly, so when one of our major safe houses went dark, I helped her decide to send you after that. With me."  
Eros grunted and looked vaguely interested. "Will there be robots?"  
"Tons of 'em."  
"Yeah, I guess Butch would probably like that. RJ, too, maybe. Okay," Eros answered easily. "I should probably check on them. Uh, stay here."  
He stepped quietly back to the entrance of the chamber and ducked down to look around the corner. As he'd expected, Butch had RJ's back pressed to his chest with one hand down RJ's pants and the other over his mouth to stifle the noises he'd make. The light blush on their sniper's cheeks made it obvious he'd been teasing him for awhile. Eros glanced back at Deacon, who pretended to be busy staring at the ceiling. He held up a finger to signal for Deacon to wait and the man shrugged exaggeratedly.  
Eros waited until RJ jerked lightly in Butch's hold before barking, "Hey! It's clear!"  
RJ's eyes flew open and Butch chuckled. "Aw, but we're havin' a good time," he complained as he squeezed RJ's cock emphatically.  
"Better be quick, babes. This is the only way out," Eros snickered as he disappeared again.  
MacCready was drooling against Butch's fingers, but he didn't seem to mind it as he delved his fingers deeper into RJ's pants. He trailed along his balls lightly before grasping the base of his dick, blood surging achingly. RJ knew he'd probably cum the moment Butch finally stopped teasing him.  
Butch pressed his lips to RJ's neck and flicked his tongue across his skin. "You heard the man, sweetheart. Better think sexy thoughts." His hand over RJ's mouth moved to his pants, undoing them just enough more to let Butch fist his cock properly. The hand returned to his mouth with force, pressing RJ's head back against Butch's shoulder. As he began pumping RJ with a sweet pressure, Butch took the opportunity to graze his teeth along RJ's extended throat.  
MacCready had tried staying quiet, but it was getting to be too much already. Butch had been teasing him for solid minutes, squeezing his ass and palming his dick. Butch added to the difficulty by whispering, "RJ, baby, I gotta see you cummin' for me. It's so fuckin' sexy seein' you get all worked up - now I wanna see you cum all over yourself. Just think about my cock, huh? Fucking into you like I wanna ruin you." RJ moaned shakily against Butch's hand and the man breathed a laugh. "That your thing, babe? You wanna get fucking wrecked by a nice cock? Maybe with another in your mouth?"  
His hand left RJ's mouth suddenly to grab his jaw and Butch twisted his head to kiss him. RJ was lost in the images Butch provoked in his head and felt himself starting to fade over the edge, his breath short and fast through his nose.  
_Fuck_ , he was cumming in his own fucking pants and Butch was grinning and pressing his teeth to RJ's lower lip. He exhaled long and loudly, wincing at the roughness of his clothing as Butch's hand moved away. Butch didn't let him go like he'd expected, though, and, instead, held tighter to his jaw as he raised his fingers laced with cum. He spoke against RJ's lips, "Taste it with me."  
His face heated and he stared hard at Butch's hand. He didn't really have a choice as Butch tipped his head back against his shoulder again and hovered a finger against his lip. RJ made eye contact with him as he slid his tongue over the fingers, tasting himself and Butch's skin. His cock twitched and Butch growled appreciatively. He brought their mouths together again with his fingers between them, spreading cum across RJ's tongue with his own.  
"That's was extra cute." RJ jumped again, hating how unfocused he'd become since Butch started touching him. Eros was standing close, suddenly, and had spoken with a shitty grin on his face. Butch pulled back and motioned for Eros to come closer. He moved the hand between them and held it out towards Eros. He winked at RJ and grabbed Butch's wrist to glide his tongue along the last bit of cum across the back of Butch's hand with a spark in his eyes.  
Butch nuzzled against RJ's hair and whispered, "Damn - you're a dirty fucker."  
He chuckled and RJ breathed, "You're the one who told me-!"  
Butch interrupted, "You're the one who did it."  
Eros laughed. "You both are dirty fuckers and I got news. I'm heading out with this guy to do some robot-killing. It's some super-secret shit."  
Butch looked at him hard and asked, "Just you?"  
"You guys can come if you want. This guy says it's one of those test kind of things. I guess if we do it, we get to crash their HQ. Apparently, Goodneighbor is fairly close." He glanced at RJ and added, "You can head there and chill for awhile. If you want."  
In truth, he didn't trust bringing the two around Deacon or the synths, but they didn't need to know. They'd never fought synths, and Eros was compelled to test danger firsthand before he let his partners take it on themselves. At least, if a hostile was too much, they would be in Goodneighbor together rather than facing the danger themselves. Besides that, he didn't like aligned strangers.  
Anyone willing to commit themselves to a cause had motives, and Eros had met more than enough of them to know those motives could easily end in threats, hostage-taking, and other world-ending bullshit. It was just smarter to send himself as a test subject for the situation. Deacon hid himself behind several layers of facade and disingenuine words, and, while Eros could relate, he knew better than to trust people like himself.  
Butch shrugged against RJ and kissed his neck passively. "Yeah, true. But I'd rather not let you go off on your own again."  
RJ rolled his head against Butch to catch eyes with Eros and stated seriously, "You're not going alone." 

 

"I don't know how well espionage works in groups of four," Deacon said with a light smirk and crossed arms. They stood at the base of a fallen highway, the afternoon sun heavy on Eros's skin as he looked over the 'disguise' Deacon wore. It was the same he'd worn in Diamond City and Eros was still struggling to remember a drunken meeting with the man.  
"Yeah, we don't do the subtle thing too often. It's easier to overpower and crush," Eros answered with a laugh.  
MacCready had his back to the group, standing a few meters off with his scope to his eye. The Pip-Boy on his arm made him look smaller beneath its width and Eros was smiling as he watched the man. He'd agreed to stay at the base of the highway to 'keep watch,' but Eros wouldn't admit that it was really a distrust of Deacon that made him suggest RJ stay back. Butch eyed Deacon cautiously and muttered, "Who needs to sneak if you've never lost a fight, right?"  
Deacon chuckled and nodded towards the highway. "Come on, I got some great stuff to show ya'."  
Eros followed casually, stuffing his fingers into the pockets of his jeans, and Butch followed several paces behind. The spy was excited to point out white-painted markings left on a cement barricade. "See this? Means there's a tourist nearby."  
Eros gave a half-nod in understanding. "Funny how humans always play the same tricks."  
Deacon smiled; "If it ain't broke, man."  
They pushed forward and Deacon pointed out another marking. "An arrow obviously indicates direction. Got that, smart guy?"  
Eros snorted and looked to Butch. "Got that, babe? Arrows point at shit."  
Butch raised an eyebrow and cracked his neck, replying, "Wow. That's really something. Next you'll tell me it's _indi_ catin' we go straight on this fucking straight path."  
Deacon laughed again and Eros felt a familiar spark in himself that usually led to heavy flirting. He ignored it, for now, and started forward again. A bus sat between them and whoever the tourist was, and Eros wasn't surprised when a gnarled claw reached from beneath it to grate against the asphalt. Butch sighed and went for his gun, but Eros put a hand out to stop him. "Babe, wait - let me try this again. I got this."  
Butch laughed too-easily and Eros punched his shoulder. "I swear, I'm not saving you this time if you fuck up."  
The ferals were growing in numbers and staring to rise and Eros twirled his knife between his fingers. He rushed forward to meet a scrambling feral and swept his blade horizontally before him, catching the ghoul's face with an audible ripping. He'd torn across its mouth, causing trails of saliva and blood to leak from its widened maw. Another swipe cleared its throat and the feral screeched, bending awkwardly to fall as its body seized. A second was right behind it, flanked by two more, and Eros made a point to check that Butch and Deacon were watching before slamming his blade into its soft temple, followed by the same move on the third. Usually, he avoided the boring 'final blow' shit, but he had a goal.  
The fourth and last feral bound towards him and Eros flipped his knife in the air to grab its blade between his index finger and thumb. Butch cursed and complained, "Eros, no, come on." He ignored him and drew his arm back to fling the knife at the feral, spinning in through the air with a hopeful look.  
The knife lodged directly into its upper chest, just high enough to clear collar bones and tear into its throat. As the feral fell, Eros threw his fists into the air and shouted, "Ah-ha! I knew I'd practiced it! That sniper just gets me nervous, man." Butch clapped sarcastically and Eros winked at him. "See, I'm badass."  
Deacon continued past the feral with a cool shrug; "Hey, if it gets the job done, man. Our tourist should be right up here."


	5. Burst 115

MacCready leaned against a crumbling barricade and scratched his boot along the gravel. He heard Eros's voice getting more distant and he glanced over the area carefully before raising his arm to look at the Pip-Boy they'd given him. It was gorgeous compared to their own - the casing was still fairly clean and the screen was free of even a scuff. It wasn't exactly useful for anything, especially when all three of them had one, now, but he could distract himself by clicking through various menus and maps when he wasn't playing Eros's game.  
Kill Everything was the weirdest thing RJ had ever seen. Butch had said the enemies used to be confined to Radroaches, Vault Dwellers, and whatever Eros imagined might be Outside. Since they'd left the Vault, he'd updated it to reflect the real world and, really, RJ didn't see the point, entirely. He'd never tell the guy, but he could just walk a kilometer in any direction and have the same experience. He kept playing it, though, to read the messages left behind. They ranged from silly to gruesome when he'd hit an enemy, but there were messages that popped up randomly with words originally intended for Butch.  
_You've been playing for one hour straight. Get a life, gorgeous._  
_Have you ever considered how quickly a dragon could eat you?_  
_You've blasted 114 enemies to pieces. That's super sexy, so you get +5 sex appeal for fifteen minutes._  
_Congratulations, you've won! Redeem this message for one aggressive groping._  
He wasn't sure if he wanted to read them as though they were directed to him - things were still complicated. He still hadn't told them about Duncan, yet, while both of them gave out information freely without him even asking. He hadn't referenced them as anything but assholes, but they'd called him _theirs_. They opened up easily, but he was still stand-offish. It was starting to make him feel guilty, especially as he started Kill Everything and heard Eros's voice in his head calling him pet names. He hadn't had proper alone time in days, and he could finally think about them without their handsome faces and stupid muscles distracting him.  
Love with Lucy had made sense - it was easy and came like a flood, filling his head instantly with thoughts of her. Eros provoked feelings that reminded RJ of the dogs in Little Lamplight - he was reckless and rude, but he brought a sense of security and limitless affection that made MacCready relax around him, now. He had a blatant honesty and will to give into his own spontaneity that made everything interesting. The way Butch acted when they were alone was closer to what MacCready had experienced in the past. He was confident, but there was a level of vulnerability Eros refused to show. Butch would nuzzle against him and kiss his hair - Eros used his words to bridge his way across what counted as flirting.  
Eventually, he heard them speaking again and heard Eros louder than anyone else. "I did what you said! The fucking geiger-"  
Deacon interrupted with a laugh, "You realize he was on our side, yeah? Like, you don't need to coerce tourists."  
"Did that count as coercion?" Eros had a look of thoughtful confusion on his face as RJ turned to see the men descending the highway's ramp. "I just wanted to make sure he was legit."  
"That's literally the point of the signal," Deacon said with a smirk. Butch was busy lighting his millionth cigarette and leaned against a barricade to stare out at the wastes.  
Eros dropped their conversation instantly as he neared RJ to throw his arms around him and shout, "I did the knife boomerang thing! You should'a seen it."  
"No, you didn't," RJ challenged with a scoff and smirk.  
Eros pulled him sideways to face Deacon over RJ's shoulder, his arms pinned to his sides by Eros's. "I did-fucking-so. They saw!"  
Deacon nodded, though RJ couldn't see it, and added, "Oh, yeah - would'a cleaved that feral's head off if it was humanly possible to split a spine like that."  
Eros giggled lowly and hugged RJ tight to him. "Made its neck into a fountain just for you, babe."  
RJ laughed and tried to ignore the self-consciousness of having a second person watching Eros get affectionate over him. He couldn't move in Eros's grip and settled on hiding his eyes in the man's neck. He responded teasingly, trying to keep from letting this new guy, Deacon, judge them, "Oh, man - thanks, really. That's so thoughtful."  
Eros laughed and kissed his ear. "Deac says we're headed to a tunnel. We could've gone the fun way with synths and mines, but I figured you guys would just bitch at me again if we did that."  
"Damn right," Butch said with an emphatic flick of his cigarette. His tone shifted quickly to excitement; "Hey, we're finally gonna see these robot-fuckers, huh?"  
"Only if we keep moving," Deacon replied with a dickish smile.  
Eros finally released RJ and stretched. "Hell yeah. Let's murder some murderbots." 

 

As they came within view of the hidden tunnel, Eros shoved Butch and sprinted towards it. Butch groaned and started into a jog that built quickly until he was able to catch up near the opening. Without hesitation, Butch rammed into Eros's back and they disappeared into the entrance. Deacon cursed and started towards them, but RJ stopped him; "Don't waste your energy. They're fine."  
Deacon laughed in disbelief and shrugged. "They always just run into shit like that?"  
"Pretty much exclusively," he answered in a flat tone.  
Deacon hesitated, then asked, "So is it really all three of you? I couldn't believe it when I heard, honestly."  
MacCready raised an eyebrow and demanded, "Heard from who?"  
"Well," Deacon gestured randomly and gave a fake smile, "through the grapevine, you know? Hey, no judgment, though. I think it's pretty cool." He paused as they came into view of the tunnel and Eros was pressing Butch to the wall with his wrists pinned to his sides, kissing with spread lips and grins. "Dangerous, I guess, but cool."

Inside, Eros shoved Butch away from the terminal they'd found, both men obviously overexcited and less-than-focused. Deacon cocked his head with a grin as he and Mac watched them.  
"Fuck off, you cute ass motherfucker - terminals are _my_ thing!" Eros growled, but Butch had a shoulder to his chest and shoved Eros into the wall.  
"I don't give a shit - let me try," Butch argued, grunting as Eros flailed to push him back.  
"How 'bout you two take point with your friend Mac, here, and _I_ can take care of it. Since I, ya' know, have the password," Deacon offered with a grin.  
Eros twisted to glare at Deacon as Butch wrapped his arms at his waist and threw him sideways. Stumbling, he muttered, "How the fuck is that any fun?"  
Deacon chuckled and slid past the wrestling men to the terminal, where he cleared the login without issue and the door nearby leading into the depths of the safehouse clicked open. "May not be fun out here, but the real party's inside."  
Eros slapped a hand onto Butch's face, shoving him away so he could make a run for the door. Mac watched with a faint grin, never having been so calm before what promised to be a real fight. Butch ran after him, disappearing through the door with Eros before robotic voices sounded from deeper inside and Mac cracked his neck, glancing at Deacon, before following with a sigh.  
By the time he reached them, they'd killed three Gen-1's and Eros was busying himself twisting the head off of one while Butch watched with feigned disinterest.  
"Babe, what're you doing?" he asked, noticing Mac with a smile.  
Eros grunted and heaved the skull from its base, stumbling back with the synthetic head in his arms. "Hold on - it'll be funny." Mac's made a face as Eros shoved his hand into the robotic skull and twisted it on his wrist, adjusting until the jaw snapped open. He tested it, opening and closing the mouth with his fingers, and looked at Butch with wild excitement. "Babe, look - it's Amata." He made a mimicking, high-pitched voice and made the skull mouth the words - "Stop putting your penises in everything but me! I hate you, you dirty butt-fuckers!"  
Butch's mouth twitched before he snorted and doubled-over, laughing hard. He gasped, "Oh my God - make her say she's a bitch."  
The skull spun fully and Eros caught it so that it stared straight at Butch as he stood again. Eros's voice raised even higher and he screeched, "I'm Amata and I'm the biggest bitch in the whole Vault! Eat my ass and balls!" Eros turned the head to look at himself as Butch began laughing again and mumbled, "Or, like, ovaries." He made a face and turned the skull to Mac and Deacon, who'd appeared to watch silently. Eros resumed the voice, though less-aggressively, "Oh hey, boys. Wanna feel a sweet robot neck hole? I got holes for days."  
"Oh, wow," Deacon responded coolly, "that's really high-low-brow."  
Eros bit his tongue at them and tossed the skull off his fist and against a large metal door. "Alright - I get it. I won't do Hamlet, but I could figure out Agammemnon, maybe."  
Mac raised an eyebrow and looked to Butch, who lost interest at the vague words. Deacon nodded and smirked; "I'm really more of an Opera guy."  
Eros rolled his eyes and made his way to the door's override switch at its side. "Yeah, I'm not singing for you or anyone else, man. Butch, hurry the fuck up."  
Butch grumbled and dragged his feet towards the door. Honestly, the whole mission was going strangely, from his experience, and he wasn't even sure he wanted to be there. Of course, it was _fun_ being with Butch and Eros, but this was the _Institute_. They weren't clearing some Mirelurks or gutting raiders - they were risking their asses over some political bullshit with robots. To top it, he was bored. The Gen-1's were like training dummies - the men weren't even taking it seriously. Deacon looked only half-interested, eventually, and even lit a cigarette.  
The two stopped behind a doorway and Mac had to laugh. "This is so stupid. I don't know why I'm even here. Butch told me about these modified bullets he uses that can pierce metal, I guess - the robots aren't anything _but_ that."  
"Hey, I'm not gonna complain if I get to stay bullet-free," Deacon said, shrugging. "Heard they got you the cure, too."  
Mac narrowed his eyes at him and grimaced. "How the heck do you know about that? I don't even know you."  
"It's not like Daisy's quiet or her store has actual windows or I don't eavesdrop everywhere all at once. I'm a _Railroad Agent_ \- that's pretty much all I do."  
"Yeah, well," Mac turned towards the door to check that they were still clear and muttered, "don't say anything about it, alright?"  
"Oh?" Deacon sounded too interested and Mac suddenly hated being around such nosey dicks. "Why's that?"  
"None of the _Railroad's_ business," he spat before rounding the doorway to find a long, empty hall. He ignored Deacon as the man appeared behind him and followed the sound of gunshots.  
Before they turned another corner, Eros appeared from it and waved shortly. "There's a door we can't open. Spy Guy's got it, right?"  
"Yeah, yeah," Deacon replied, brushing past Mac with a chuckle to follow Eros back down the hall. Mac leaned against the wall and ground his teeth, lost in though when Butch appeared and bumped against his side.  
"Hey, Pipsqueak," Butch greeted, laughing at RJ's glare.  
"You've already got the dozen other names you call me," RJ muttered. "That's not gonna be one."  
" _Psh_ , that's me flirtin' with ya', _Robbie_ ," Butch teased, throwing an arm over RJ's shoulders. "Which name ya' like more, though? For real, I've just been sayin' whatever comes out."  
RJ laughed softly and pressed against Butch's side. "I don't know. Nicknames were so common when I was a kid, and my name was so long compared to everyone else - they've always just called me lots of things."  
"They ever call you Sweet Ass?" A grin broke across Mac's face as Butch giggled and lit a cigarette.  
" _No_ \- I'm pretty sure it wouldn't have stuck."  
Butch shoved his hand between Mac's back and the wall, sliding it down to his lower back, just above the curve of his ass. "I think that's what I'll go with. Everyone'll know who I'm talkin' to." They were interrupted as Eros and Deacon reappeared, a man slung over Eros's back. Butch sniffed and asked, "What're you doin'?"  
Deacon was quiet and Eros moved past them to follow the signs to the exit, answering calmly, "Deacon's friend. We gotta bury people we know."  
Mac was put off by the fact that Eros was carrying a dead man, but Deacon and Butch fell behind him and he added it to the list of thing Eros did that he didn't _get_. Burials happened, but it was rare that he'd ever seen a stranger's body treated with the same dignity.  
Outside, Eros set the body - apparently a guy named Whisper - along the ground and began searching his pockets. He found two caps and laid them on the man's eyes while Deacon and Butch stood to the side with Mac, partially keeping watch, but mostly letting Eros do whatever odd things he chose. Eros straightened and pulled the pistol he'd gotten from Butch from its holster, shooting into the ground.  
Butch swept his head to the side towards Mac, keeping his voice low as he explained, "He tests the ground - ya' know, see if he can dig at all. If he can't, he uses rocks."  
Mac looked to Deacon, who'd been silent since they'd exited. "You cool with this?"  
Deacon raised his eyebrows, looking like he'd been torn from thought. "Lot more than I'd expect from my death. Guy sure is interesting." Eros didn't ask for help as he began tearing rubble from the edge of the building where it sat in heaps. He didn't look at them or speak as he covered Whisper carefully. Deacon added, "I've been to funerals, but they've never been quite so _traditional_."  
Butch slipped an arm around Mac's waist and said, "I've seen him do it more than a few times. I used to get pissed he was usin' up caps doin' it, but he's got this whole thing about it. I dunno."  
"Ancient people did it - lots of different reasons. Some of 'em thought it'd get you a better Afterlife, some believed you had to pay a guy to get you there."  
_That's stupid_ , Mac kept from saying. Instead, he looked to the ground and waited in silence until Eros returned and sighed Happily. As always, he was a mite too chipper for the occasion and breathed, "Hey, maybe this Institute thing won't be as big of a bitch as we thought, huh?"  
Butch smiled, a tolerant love in his eyes, and laughed, "So, can we go, now? Those robots were creepy."  
Deacon interrupted with a cool tone, " _Yeah_ , I better be headin' out. You guys come by HQ as soon as you can. And, uh," he slid a hand over Eros's shoulder as he passed him to start his own way back, "thanks for that. Means a lot."  
Eros nodded like a kid as he searched Butch's person for cigarettes, not seeming to grasp the gravity of the words. As he finally found and lit one of the pressed cigarettes Butch had hidden in his sleeve, Eros looked to Mac and winked. "Pretty good, right? Come on - tell me that wasn't pretty superb."  
Mac let a half-smile slip and shook his head, "Good, yeah, but pretty boring for me."  
Eros scoffed and retorted, "Well, it'll be better in an open space, Mister _Ten-Thousand-Yard-Range._ Hey, but, now we get to go I to their little headquarters. That'll be fun."  
"Loads," Butch muttered, laughing softly.  
"Yeah, maybe we'll get a fancy uniform and we can start scrubbing floors," Mac added. "I hope you don't expect me to join up with them. I'm not really into the whole group thing anymore."  
Eros crossed his arms and smirked. "Babe, no. I don't align, either. We're freelance - forever. I just like peeking."  
"And I ain't got time for it," Butch murmured, stretching to pop his back as he started towards the southeast. "C'mon - the Butch-man is uncomfortably sober."  
  
Despite how easily they'd torn through Deacon's old Railroad hideout, exhaustion was obvious amongst the three men. Butch was dragging his feet and glaring at the ground while Eros fell uncharacteristically quiet as they made their way back towards Diamond City. It was the closest civilized place they could go, but it was still too far for all the traveling they'd done. Eros had begun sighing loudly when a small concrete building appeared over a hill and he called out, "Hey, hey - Pre-War military bunker. They always got some good shit."  
"They always got turrets and shit, too. I'm fuckin' tired," Butch complained, but Eros was already headed towards the bunker, cutting off from his partners with a definite gait.   
"I got it, then. You relax, gorgeous," Eros called back with a smile. He knew the two men wouldn't let him go in alone, and they followed sluggishly.   
Inside, dust hit Mac's nose and made him cringe while Butch rushed behind Eros to wrap an arm at his waist and murmur something sweet. They parted quickly, leaving Mac in a kind of front office area. An untouched door sat nearby and he stepped towards it with disinterest, thoughts elsewhere as he followed the common protocol of checking everywhere for loot. The door was unlike the thick metal one Eros and Butch had passed through - it was swollen wood and the door knob stung with an icy chill. He had to yank it open to unwedge it, a blast of cold air thick with something bitter hitting him as it finally gave.   
Immediately, his eyes burned. He could see it was a long closet or storage room lined with tables holding metal canisters, but his eyes were forcing themselves shut and he had to turn away. His throat felt hot and dry and his eyes seared with pain. He cursed in a whisper and began coughing, a ferocious choking that appeared without warning. The muscles along his limbs and back tightened impossibly and he could hear his teeth grinding. In moments, he heard footsteps and a voice, but Mac was having trouble standing, now, as coughs wracked through him. Finally, his knees gave and he felt arms around his ribs as he hit the ground. He heard the door slam shut and Eros spoke in a hasty voice near his ear, "Get him outside. Fuck, I'm sorry. I didn't think they had this shit so far north."   
Butch was holding him up, he realized, as he responded, "Are you sure it's-"   
Eros interrupted evenly, "Yeah - get him outside. Put this between his teeth. If he stops breathing, you have to help him. I'll be out in a second."   
Mac was panicking at the words. They knew what was happening, apparently, and he could stop breathing. He'd never heard the hard edge in Eros's voice - though it was close to the tone he'd used when he'd shot RadAway into him. Butch moved him easily, sliding his arm beneath Mac to maneuver him into his arms. He felt fresh air in moments, but the coughing wouldn't stop. His limbs began burning, his mind growing heavy with a kind of high that made him want to sleep.   
He flattened against ground and tried to open his eyes, only able to glimpse blurs of colors through the tears forming. Butch was behind him, now, holding him to sit up, and a hand rested at his throat. Butch's voice was light in his ear and he could hardly hear it over the rushing of blood, "Keep breathin', babe. Eros'll be back in a second. You'll be fine."   
Mac tried to respond but only felt the urge to tear at his throat. His fingers hit Butch's hand and scraped down his chest. Butch stopped with with an arm around his torso, kissing the side of Mac's head carefully. When he heard Eros approach, his throat had started closing and air was difficult to choke down.   
Eros fell to his knees beside Mac and spoke evenly as something clicked and snapped in his hands, "RJ, baby, you gotta keep breathing. I know it hurts. This is going to hurt too - just keep breathing and it'll be over soon." There was a hand on his arm, turning it in Butch's grip, and the nerves flamed at the touch, making him arch into Butch. "Get the pencil."   
Butch released him and fingers were at his jaw, sliding between his gritting teeth to pry his mouth open. Butch shoved an ancient pencil between his molars to keep his jaw open and fresh air appeared more easily, though not nearly enough. A second passed wherein RJ wondered if it'd ever stop - it was cut short by a stinging pinch at his elbow followed by a surge of fire. Mac cried out between the chokes, his teeth digging painfully into the wood. Butch soothed, "You're okay. It's all good. Just stay calm, Robbie."  
He hadn't heard that name from them, yet. It was enough to distract him as the flames seemed to lick across his skin, building to curve along his shoulder and spread like a cloud into his chest. Another hand, soft and lean like Eros's touched his jaw and Mac heaved in the apex of the coughing fit, lungs burning as he fell forward and brought his knees close to his chest. Butch pulled him back and ran a hand against Mac's chest while Eros exhaled in relief.   
"Keep him here. I'll label the place," Eros said, the sound of a kiss leaving Mac feeling like a broken toy.   
Butch relaxed his hold and moved his hands to Mac's sides, breathing the same sigh Eros had. He murmured calmly, "Fuck that was scary. I can't believe that shit is out here." The coughing was subsiding enough that Mac was able to grunt in response. Butch understood and explained, "Some shit they tried out back in the day. _Bio_ weapon, I think. Eros knows it better." He chuckled shortly and added, "He knows what to do 'cause I got a good hit of it back in the Capital, once. It's fucking nasty. I'm sorry you got it, too. Makes you feel like your goddamn soul's gettin' ripped out." Mac lost his stupid brave facade, feeling small and torn apart in his arms. He moved back to press his weight to Butch's chest and weakly pulled one of the hands at his waist to his face, kissing the knuckles blindly. Despite the still-fading burning throughout his body, Mac felt a surge of affection at how Butch held him.   
He found his voice, finally, and it scraped through his throat. "I'm sorry - I should have checked better or stayed outside." Butch laughed softly through his nose and snapped lightly, "Shut up, loser. You couldn't've known. Least you didn't walk straight into like I did - seems like you just got a whiff. Don't apologize - that's why we got Eros to keep us alive."   
Mac held the warm hand to his lips and waited. Butch held him closer, pressing a kiss to his neck. The coughing stopped, finally, and the stinging in his arm dissolved into a general ache mirrored throughout the rest of his body. When Eros returned, it was to run a hand through Mac's hair, ignoring his hat as it fell to the ground. He asked cautiously, his tone concerned, "Are you alright?" He added with a smile, "Any bright lights or vision of dead relatives?"  
"I'm good," RJ rasped, finally opening his eyes only to shut them tight at the blinding daylight.   
"We're going to have to stay here for awhile," Eros commented. "He won't be able to walk for an hour, at least."   
Mac laid Butch's hand to his side and tried to raise himself, muttering, "I'm fine. Really-" He was interrupted by Eros forcing him carefully back to Butch's chest.   
"Uh, no, you're not. You need to relax. The shit in there is called _Burst 115_. It's a Pre-War weapon they designed to invade the body through the air, and they used inactive Blue Fever to get it into the body and make the immune system react like crazy. When the dead virus bursts, though, they made it so it releases hystemines meant to overload the immune system and pretty much overwork your whole body until it shuts down. You're lucky not to have brain damage getting hit by that shit."  
Mac was taken aback by the description, suddenly hit with the gravity of how close he'd come to death. He kept the reaction to himself and nodded gingerly. He couldn't help but feel like he was impeding their plan, but knew they wouldn't say it. They were too fucking nice. He relaxed against Butch again, grimacing. "Well, thanks," he offered shortly.   
Eros smiled and kissed near Mac's ear. "Not a worry, man - I'm a medic. That's what I'm here for." 

**Author's Note:**

> Written totally to:  
> Crown the Empire  
> A Great Big World  
> Emmure  
> Mischief Brew  
> Hotel Books  
> More Than a Thousand  
> Ice Nine Kills  
> Iron & Wine  
> Salmo  
> Dope D.O.D.
> 
> Check them out :)


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